Days after a court in Bangladesh sentenced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to death for the violent protests in the country last year and the Muhammad Yunus government sought Hasina’s extradition from India, New Delhi has said it is examining the request. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has said that it was seeing the request of the Bangladesh to extradite Sheikh Hasina.
India added that it is committed to ensure the best interests of the people of that country. “The request is being examined as part of ongoing judicial and internal legal processes,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
‘A duty for India’
Asserting India’s stance on taking the best interest of people of Bangladesh into account, Jaiswal said Delhi remains committed to Dhaka’s peace, democracy, inclusion and stability and “in that country and will continue to engage constructively in this regard with all stakeholders”.
He said it (extradition) is also a “duty for India, as per the extradition treaty existing between the two countries”. Soon after the judgement, Bangladesh had written to India seeking Hasina’s extradition. The Awami League leader has been living in India since she fled Bangladesh on August 5 last year in the face of the massive protests.
The MEA spokesperson also mentioned that India is following all developments in Bangladesh closely. On the Bangladesh National Security Advisor Khalilur Rahman extending an invitation to his Indian counterpart Ajit DovalAjit Doval to visit that country, Jaiswal suggested that it will be taken forward when time comes.
Death sentence order
78-year-old Hasina was recently sentenced to death in absentia by a special tribunal in Dhaka for “crimes against humanity” over her government’s brutal crackdown on student-led protests last year. Her close aide and former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal was also given a death sentence on similar charges.
Following the court verdict, Bangladesh requested India for her extradition.
Reacting to the verdict, Hasina said the judgement has been made by a “rigged tribunal established and presided over by an unelected government with no democratic mandate”.
