Bangladesh’s main opposition party, the BNP, has requested India to extradite former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to face charges of murder and other serious crimes following her departure amid a student-led uprising. The BNP argued that these charges fall under the extraditable category and called on India to fulfill its legal obligations under the bilateral treaty.
On Tuesday, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, speaking in Dhaka after paying tribute to the party’s founder, Ziaur Rahman, urged India to legally hand Hasina over to the Bangladeshi government for trial. Alamgir emphasized that the people of Bangladesh have decided that Hasina should face justice and claimed that her refuge in India contradicts democratic principles. He also accused Hasina of plotting to undermine the revolution that occurred in Bangladesh.
The extradition treaty between Bangladesh and India requires both countries to hand over individuals facing legal proceedings for any “extraditable crime,” including those related to serious offenses such as murder. However, the treaty does not apply to cases that are “political in nature,” though this exemption does not cover severe crimes like murder.
India has the option to refuse an extradition request under Article 8 of the treaty, which allows the signatories to deny requests that are “not made in good faith and in the interests of justice.” The BNP alleged that Hasina’s Awami League continues to conspire from New Delhi to distort the victory achieved by students and citizens of Bangladesh. Alamgir stated that providing shelter to Hasina, whom he referred to as an “enemy of the people of Bangladesh,” would not endear India to the Bangladeshi people.
Meanwhile, the Awami League has criticized the interim government of Bangladesh for the charges against Hasina, dismissing them as “false and politically motivated.”