Can Sheikh Hasina be extradited to Bangladesh? What are India’s options?
- India and Bangladesh have an extradition treaty, under whose provisions Bangladesh may seek the extradition of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
- With former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina facing multiple criminal cases back at home, it is likely that India’s eastern neighbour may push for her extradition.
- Bangladesh’s de facto foreign minister Touhid Hossain said since Hasina’s ouster, a number of cases had been filed against her, and that should the country’s home and law ministries decide, Bangladesh may need her to “return to Bangladesh”
India- Bangladesh Extradition Treaty, 2013:
- India and Bangladesh signed an extradition treaty in 2013, which was then amended in 2016 to ease and hasten the exchange of fugitives between the two countries.
- According to the treaty, India and Bangladesh are supposed to extradite individuals “who have been proceeded against… or have been charged with or have been found guilty of, or are wanted for… committing an extraditable offence” by a court of the requesting country.
- The treaty allowed India to successfully extradite Anup Chetia, a top United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) leader, from Bangladesh to India in 2015
- An extraditable offence, the treaty says, is one which carries a minimum punishment of one year imprisonment and the offence must be punishable in both countries.
Exception of this Treaty:
- The treaty says that extradition may be refused if the offence is of “political nature”. But this is limited by the nature of offence.
Extradition by Bangladesh:
- Things are further complicated by the fact that a 2016 amendment to Article 10 (3) of the treaty did away with the requirement for the requesting country to provide evidence of the offence committed. Now, merely an arrest warrant by a competent court of the requesting country is needed to process an extradition.
- Article 7 of the treaty says that “the request for extradition may be refused by the Requested State if the person whose extradition is sought may be tried for the extradition offence in the courts of that State.” This is not applicable in Hasina’s case.
India’s point:
- India has the option of refusing Hasina’s extradition on the ground that the accusations made against her are not “in good faith in the interests of justice”
- Article 8 lists out multiple grounds for refusal including cases in which an accusation has not been “made in good faith in the interests of justice”.
- But this has the potential to adversely impact New Delhi’s relations with Dhaka’s new ruling dispensation.
- India has to look to build relations with whoever comes to power in Dhaka, and secure its long term strategic and economic interests in Bangladesh. At the same time, it must also be seen to be standing by Sheikh Hasina, a long time friend and ally to New Delhi.