Sheikh Hasina Seeks a New Passport and National ID; Dhaka Insists on Extradition Instead
Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has lived in India since fleeing Dhaka on 5 August 2024, has asked for a new passport and national identity (ID) card so that she can return to Bangladesh.
Bangladesh's State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Humaiun Kobir, said on 5 November 2026 that Dhaka will not issue her an ordinary passport or travel document. He said India should instead hand her over under the existing India-Bangladesh Extradition Treaty, and that no passport is needed to bring back a person wanted for serious crimes.
Her diplomatic passport was cancelled by Bangladesh's interim government in August 2024. Her national ID card was locked by Bangladesh's Election Commission in February 2025.
On 17 November 2025, Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal-1 sentenced her to death in absentia (without her being present) for crimes against humanity linked to the crackdown on the 2024 student-led uprising.
Bangladesh first asked India for her extradition through a diplomatic note in December 2024. India has said the request is "under examination". The new government formed after the February 2026 election has kept pressing the demand.
India-Bangladesh Extradition Treaty (2013, amended 2016)
The India-Bangladesh Extradition Treaty is an agreement under which each country hands over to the other people who are wanted for serious crimes. If an accused or convicted person runs away from one country to the other, the treaty sets the rules for sending them back. Inside India, the treaty works through the Extradition Act, 1962, which lays down the legal procedure.
Bangladesh says it will not give Hasina a passport because it wants her returned through this treaty, which would bring her back as a convicted person facing the tribunal's sentence. Whether India agrees depends on how it reads Articles 6 and 8, and on wider diplomatic choices.
Refugee Policy in India
A refugee is a person who has fled their own country because they fear serious harm there, for example because of their religion, race or political opinion. Many countries protect refugees under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol. India has signed neither, and it has no separate national law for refugees. It handles each group case by case, through government decisions.
Because India has no refugee law, Hasina's stay depends entirely on the Union government's choice. Her request for Bangladeshi travel documents, and Dhaka's demand for extradition instead, show how such cases turn into diplomatic questions rather than purely legal ones.
India-Bangladesh Relations: History, Cooperation and Irritants
India and Bangladesh are close neighbours that share a long land border, many rivers, a common history and the Bengali language and culture. India helped Bangladesh win independence from Pakistan in 1971. Since then, the relationship has seen warm phases and cold phases, often changing with the government in Dhaka. Today, Bangladesh is India's largest trading partner in South Asia, and India is a key partner for Bangladesh's trade, energy and connectivity.
Hasina's request for a passport and ID, and Dhaka's refusal, show that the extradition question has become the biggest hurdle in India-Bangladesh ties. How India handles it will shape whether the new government in Dhaka moves towards a reset or a longer chill.
- Sheikh Hasina in India since: 5 August 2024
- Diplomatic passport cancelled: August 2024; national ID locked: February 2025
- Death sentence in absentia by International Crimes Tribunal-1: 17 November 2025
- Bangladesh's first extradition request to India: December 2024 (note verbale); India: "under examination"
- Statement refusing a passport: 5 November 2026, by State Minister for Foreign Affairs Humaiun Kobir
- India-Bangladesh Extradition Treaty: signed 28 January 2013; amended 2016 (arrest warrant enough, evidence not needed)
- India is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol