New Delhi: Bangladesh sent a note verbale to India Friday, requesting the extradition of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, Dhaka’s Foreign Adviser Touhid Hossain said Sunday. There has been no clarification yet from the Ministry of External Affairs on whether it has received the note verbale from Dhaka.
This comes nearly a week after Hasina was sentenced to death by Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT‑B) for ‘crimes against humanity’.
“It [the letter] was sent the day before yesterday [Friday],” Hossain told reporters Sunday as reported by the news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha.
On 17 November, the ICT‑B sentenced Hasina and former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal to death for violence and repression during last year’s student protests. Hours after the verdict, Dhaka made its first appeal to India for her return, saying that offering her shelter was an “intolerant act and a disregard for justice”. India responded, saying that it had “noted the verdict” and expressed willingness to engage. But it has not committed to extradition, so far.
This is Bangladesh’s second formal extradition request. The first note verbale was sent in December 2024, months after Hasina fled to New Delhi. In December 2024, Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, publicly confirmed receiving the request.
Hossain indicated that the extradition request was being made under the 2013 extradition treaty between India and Bangladesh. However, Article 6(1) of the treaty allows the requested country to refuse extradition if the offense is deemed “political in character.”
Those in the know told ThePrint there are serious concerns over the fairness of Hasina’s trial, including amendments to the ICT‑B made via ordinance after she lost power, which could complicate any extradition.
Hasina left Bangladesh in August 2024, following prolonged protests by students over a quota for families of 1971 Liberation War veterans. Her departure ended her uninterrupted 15-year rule. The ICT-B was originally set up to adjudicate war crimes committed during the 1971 Liberation War.
Diplomatic tensions between New Delhi and Dhaka have risen since Hasina’s ouster.
Bangladesh’s National Security Adviser, Khalilur Rahman, visited New Delhi last week for the Colombo Security Conclave, meeting India’s NSA Ajit Doval. But Rahman was only the second senior Bangladeshi official to travel to India in 2025. Earlier in the year, Bangladesh’s Energy Adviser attended India Energy Week.
Despite strained relations, bilateral channels remain active, and both countries have imposed trade restrictions. Additionally, interim Bangladesh Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus has not received an invitation to New Delhi, so far. Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Yunus just once, on the sidelines of this year’s BIMSTEC Summit in Thailand.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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