Bangladesh PM Tarique Rahman likely to visit India from August 23-25 amid Hasina extradition row: Report
A bilateral visit by Bangladesh's Prime Minister to India, expected around August 23–25, is reported to be under discussion between the two governments.
The proposed visit follows the change of government in Bangladesh in August 2024 and comes amid an outstanding request by Dhaka for India to extradite the former Bangladesh Prime Minister, who has been residing in India since then.
In November 2025, Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal convicted the former Prime Minister in absentia on charges of crimes against humanity related to the 2024 crackdown on protests, and awarded a death sentence; Dhaka has cited this conviction in renewing its extradition request.
India's Ministry of External Affairs has described the extradition request as a legal matter to be examined through due process, without indicating a change in its position.
The visit is also being viewed against the backdrop of the upcoming BRICS Summit hosted in New Delhi in September 2026.
India-Bangladesh Extradition Treaty (2013, amended 2016)
India and Bangladesh signed a bilateral Extradition Treaty in 2013 to strengthen cooperation on cross-border crime, insurgency and terrorism. It was amended in 2016 to ease the evidentiary burden on the requesting country.
Key Details
- The treaty allows extradition for offences punishable with at least one year's imprisonment in both countries (dual criminality principle).
- Article 6 contains a "political offence exception" — extradition may be refused if the offence is of a political character, though a list of serious crimes (murder, terrorism-related offences, kidnapping, etc.) is explicitly excluded from being treated as political.
- The 2016 amendment to Article 10(3) removed the requirement for the requesting state to furnish evidence of the offence; an arrest warrant from a competent court plus proof of identity of the person sought is now sufficient to process a request.
- If extradition is refused, the treaty requires the case to be referred to the requested state's own authorities for possible domestic prosecution.
The extradition request for the former Bangladesh Prime Minister is being processed (or contested) under this treaty framework; the political offence exception and the domestic Extradition Act, 1962 (India's governing statute for extradition requests and surrender procedure) both become relevant to how India examines the request.
India's Extradition Act, 1962
India's domestic law governing extradition — both to and from India — is the Extradition Act, 1962, which operationalises bilateral extradition treaties and lays down the procedure for magisterial inquiry, government sanction, and surrender of a fugitive.
Key Details
- Extradition can proceed only where a treaty exists (treaty states) or, in its absence, via a notified arrangement under the Act for non-treaty states.
- The Act requires a magistrate to hold an inquiry into whether a prima facie case exists before the Central Government can order surrender.
- Political offences, and cases where extradition is sought for an ulterior political purpose, are established grounds for refusal, mirroring the treaty's Article 6 exception.
Any decision on the extradition request would run through this domestic inquiry process, independent of diplomatic-level bilateral visits — explaining why the government has characterised the matter as a "legal" rather than purely political question.
India-Bangladesh Bilateral Relations Post-2024
Bangladesh underwent a change in political leadership in August 2024, altering the trajectory of a previously close India-Bangladesh relationship built around connectivity, trade, and border-security cooperation. Ties have since required active diplomatic recalibration.
Key Details
- Bangladesh is a founding member of BIMSTEC (1997) and SAARC (1985), both platforms through which India engages the country on connectivity and regional cooperation.
- India shares its longest land border with Bangladesh (over 4,000 km), making border management, river-water sharing (e.g., the Ganga Water Treaty, 1996) and connectivity corridors (Chattogram/Chittagong port access, transit routes to India's Northeast) recurring areas of bilateral engagement.
- A prospective visit by Bangladesh's head of government to India would be a high-level bilateral engagement of the kind typically structured around a joint statement rather than a treaty.
The proposed visit is significant as a signal of diplomatic normalisation between India and the post-2024 Bangladesh government, even as the extradition issue remains an unresolved friction point layered on top of the broader bilateral relationship.
- Proposed visit window: August 23-25, 2026.
- Bangladesh government change: August 2024.
- International Crimes Tribunal (Bangladesh) verdict against the former Bangladesh PM: 17 November 2025 — convicted of crimes against humanity, sentenced to death (in absentia).
- India-Bangladesh Extradition Treaty: signed 2013; amended 2016 (Article 10(3) evidentiary requirement eased).
- Extradition Act, 1962: India's governing domestic statute for extradition matters.
- BRICS Summit 2026: scheduled to be hosted in New Delhi, September 12-13, 2026.