Hasina’s extradition request being considered: Indian govt tells parliament

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India is examining Bangladesh’s request for the extradition of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, the government has told a parliamentary panel, more than eight months after Dhaka made the request, even as MPs urged New Delhi to use Bangladesh’s political transition to reset bilateral ties.

The Ministry of External Affairs’ written response, contained in the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs’ action taken report tabled in parliament on Thursday, came after the panel sought an update on Dhaka’s extradition request and the government’s handling of Hasina’s continued stay in India, The Wire reports.

“The extradition request is being examined by the competent authorities of the Government of India in accordance with applicable law and established procedures,” the MEA said, adding that the committee’s recommendation had been “noted for compliance”.

The committee had earlier examined the issue in detail in its Ninth Report after members questioned foreign secretary Vikram Misri about Hasina’s presence in India after she fled Bangladesh following the ouster of her government in August 2024.

Misri had told MPs that India had acted in keeping with its long-standing humanitarian tradition of providing refuge to those facing an “existential crisis” and stressed that the government had not provided Hasina “with a political platform or any political space to undertake political activity from Indian territory.

In its latest report, the committee noted that Hasina’s stay in India reflected the country’s “civilisational ethos and humanitarian tradition of offering refuge to individuals facing circumstances of grave distress or existential threats”, while observing that India had adhered to the principle that no political activity should be directed against another country from its soil. It also recorded that Bangladesh had sought Hasina’s extradition and urged the government to keep Parliament informed of developments.

Dhaka had formally sought her extradition in December 2024, four months after she arrived in India. This was then periodically followed up including after her sentencing to death in absentia by a domestic over the crackdown on the 2024 protests that ended her rule and also by foreign minister Khalilur Rahman when he visited Delhi in April.

Hasina told Reuters in an interview published on July 10 that she would return around December with senior party leaders and present herself in court, in a coordinated effort to challenge the banning of the Awami League, saying they might arrest or “even kill me” but that she had to go. In emailed answers to AFP published on Wednesday (July 29) she said she was “fully aware of my fate”.

The report, however, ranged far beyond the Hasina issue, with the committee arguing that the election of a government led by prime minister Tarique Rahman had created an opportunity to rebuild ties after nearly two years of political uncertainty.