It was on August 5 that Bangladesh’s ousted PM Sheikh Hasina fled Dhaka and landed at an Indian Air Force base near New Delhi. Her escape amidst the violent and widespread student-led protests that toppled her 16-year long regime has had repercussions even in India.
Finally, after over four months of diplomatic upheavals, Dhaka sent a formal request to the Indian government to extradite Sheikh Hasina back for the judicial process.
“We have sent a note verbale to the Indian government saying that the Bangladesh government wants her back here for judicial process,” said Touhid Hossain, acting head of the country’s foreign ministry, while addressing reporters last week.
Muhammad Yunus, head of Bangladesh’s interim government and Nobel Laureate, has also demanded that India extradite Hasina so Bangladesh can try the ousted PM for alleged crimes.
Back home, Hasina faces severe and several charges ranging from deaths of the protestors to crimes against humanity, apart from other felonies she is accused of committing during her long tenure.
Her rule, lasting a period of 15 years, has been marked by divisive opinions on her methods of governance, instances of human rights excesses and her transactional collaborations with other nations.
Dhaka’s International Crimes Tribunal issued arrest warrants for not just Hasina but also several of her former cabinet ministers, advisers, including military and civil officials for “crimes against humanity and genocide.” Back home, for Hasina, her government’s policies caused anti-India sentiments to intensify further.
What India says
Ever since Hasina landed in India, speculation of her seeking asylum in other nations has been doing the rounds. India’s foreign ministry, through a statement, confirmed receiving the extradition request, but however, has responded with a dismissive “no comments” on the issue.
“At this time we have no comment to offer on this matter,” said Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs.
“It’s not easy, as you can see when we have tried to extradite people from the UK, US and other nations, it takes years sometimes,” opined Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty, former High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh, when questioned about Hasina’s case last week. He also expressed his doubt whether the formal letter received included a dossier with evidence on cases against her.
Should India extradite her?
The question of ‘Will India deport Sheikh Hasina to Bangladesh?’, should perhaps be read in conjunction with ‘Should India deport Hasina back to Bangladesh’? Any decision taken by New Delhi needs to be viewed against what’s at stake. A lot, considering India’s relations with the other two neighbours are textbook cases of enmity and strained ties.
Why Dhaka matters
India shares a significantly long border with Bangladesh, stretching up to 4,100 kilometres. A line of control that has incessantly raised concerns about human trafficking, infiltration, terror activities given the geography involving bordering states of West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.
Areas already prone to violence and insurgent activities. The fate of Hindus, Bangladesh’s religious minority, which makes up about 8%of the population is another of India’s concern for reasons political and otherwise.
Hasina’s diplomatically strong relations with India is widely believed to have kept a check on all such fronts. Hasina’s ouster itself presents a fresh set of challenges for New Delhi.
Bangladesh’s extradition request and India’s efforts to continue a similar diplomatic equation with the incumbent government is a tricky one to put it mildly. Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed, an IT entrepreneur and currently based in the US, criticised the transitional government’s request to New Delhi in a lengthy post on X.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s home advisor to the interim government, also said that his office had sent a letter to the foreign ministry to facilitate Hasina’s extradition. Citing an extradition treaty between Dhaka and Bangladesh, he said the ousted premier could be brought back to Bangladesh.
In July 2016, the two nations signed an agreement that legally expedites the extradition process of criminal and financial fugitives between the two countries.
Despite international law and an extradition treaty between two nations, the decision to extradite an alleged criminal largely remains subjective and a matter of discretion of the country’s authorities and courts.
Where two nations have strong diplomatic ties and an extradition treaty in place, it can still be refused if the crime in context is of a political nature or the person has already been tried and acquitted of the same offence. Extradition can also be refused in case of lack of evidence or justified reasons for the extradition request.
In a recent interview to the press, Hossain stated that Hasina’s stay in India would not impact bilateral ties between the two neighbours. However, her stay despite the extradition request is most likely to.
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