Trivedi cites legal hurdles on Hasina
India has said there is no fixed timeframe for the return of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina to Bangladesh, as the Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka said the extradition request was being handled through an established legal process involving the courts.
Dinesh Trivedi also said India had “hardly any choice” but to allow Hasina to land in the country after she left Bangladesh amid the political turmoil of August 2024.
“The government of India through their spokesperson in MEA has replied to this that there is a process, and the process involves legality and it is well structured. So, as far as that is concerned, the process is on,” he said.
“The courts are involved, so nobody can give you a timeframe,” Trivedi said while responding to repeated questions from a student during a panel discussion at the Bay of Bengal Conversation 2026 in Dhaka on Saturday.
Explaining why India accepted Hasina at the time, Trivedi said she was still the prime minister of Bangladesh when she arrived in India and that New Delhi had not anticipated the development.
“At that point in time, Hasina ji was still the prime minister of Bangladesh. We had hardly any choice on that,” he said.
He recalled watching television reports as events unfolded, saying India had not been prepared for her arrival.
“The military aircraft came to India and India was not prepared. I was watching on television, and the scroll was coming that she is going somewhere else in some other country,” he said.
Trivedi stressed that Hasina was not brought to India by the Indian Air Force or the Indian Army. Rather, her arrival followed the circumstances prevailing in Bangladesh at the time.
“Hasina ji was not brought to India by Indian Air Force or Indian Army. It so happened because of the tragic circumstances in Bangladesh during that time,” he said.
He said refusing permission for the aircraft to land could have resulted in an uncertain situation.
“What was our choice? If you would have said that no, we are not going to accept, we don’t give landing permission.
Things would have been, I don’t know what. So that was the historical reason,” he said.
Trivedi described the events surrounding Hasina’s departure as tragic and expressed hope that similar circumstances, involving the loss of innocent lives, would not recur anywhere.
“We hope and pray that that never should happen where innocent people get killed, doesn’t matter which part of the world,” he said.
Bangladesh has repeatedly sought Hasina’s extradition since she left the country in August 2024 following the political upheaval that ended her 15-year rule.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs has said the request is being examined under established procedures.
The issue was also raised by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman during his meeting with Trivedi in Dhaka in August.
The student who raised the extradition question identified himself as a student of peace, conflict and human rights at the Bangladesh University of Professionals. He pressed the envoy for a clear timeframe for Hasina’s return.
Trivedi said he did not want to evade the question but noted that a full response required consideration of both the circumstances surrounding her arrival and the subsequent legal process.
The envoy’s remarks came during a panel discussion titled “Power and Prudence: Managing Great-Power Competition without Conflict” at the Bay of Bengal Conversation 2026, being held in Dhaka from 3 to 5 October.
