Official letter from Bangladesh, demand to hand over Sheikh Hasina, know what India will do now?

The interim government led by Mohammad Yunus in Bangladesh has once again sent a formal letter to India asking that former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina be handed over to Dhaka. Bangladesh High Commission in Delhi has sent this diplomatic note to the Ministry of External Affairs of India.

This request has come at a time when on 17 November 2025, a special court in Dhaka has sentenced Sheikh Hasina to death after finding her guilty of serious crimes against humanity. This is the first official letter after the decision, in which Bangladesh has demanded India to send them back.

Last year in August 2024, Hasina’s government fell due to large-scale violence, political turmoil and protests in Bangladesh. During that time, she left Dhaka and reached India and has been living in India since then. Bangladesh is now arguing that not sending them back even after so long is an obstruction in the judicial process. Meanwhile, she has been living in India for about 15 months.

Bangladesh government is saying in its letter that the extradition treaty is in force between India and Bangladesh. On this basis, India should be handed over to Sheikh Hasina. Dhaka says it is against the justice system to give shelter to people found guilty of serious charges in another country. Even before this, Bangladesh had sent a letter to India on the same issue, but no official response was received from India.

The Government of India has not made any comment this time also. Even last year, when Hasina had come to India, India had not given any formal response to Dhaka’s request. Experts believe that this matter is not only legal, but also political and strategic, because it can have a wide-ranging impact on India-Bangladesh relations.

The special court in Dhaka, in its November 17 verdict, had convicted Sheikh Hasina and her former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan on several serious counts. The court said that both were found to have a direct role in the illegal arrest of opposition leaders, their torture and crimes against humanity. Hasina and her party have been calling these allegations completely politically motivated.

Legal experts believe that India will take any decision on this issue only when it is confident that his trial has been conducted in a fair manner in Bangladesh. India will not give consent to extradition if there are suspicions of political vendetta or human rights violations in the case, hence this matter is currently in a sensitive situation on both diplomatic and legal fronts.