Sheikh Hasina's Possible Return to Bangladesh: The Tribunal Verdict, Extradition and India's Position
Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has lived in India since August 5, 2024, applied on November 9, 2026 to the Government of Bangladesh for a new passport and a national identity card.
Bangladesh's foreign ministry responded that it wants her extradition (legal handover by India) under an acceptable prisoner transfer process. Earlier in November 2026, it had said it would not issue her an ordinary passport or travel pass, and that India should hand her over under the existing extradition treaty.
In November 2025, Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in Dhaka sentenced her to death in absentia (without her being present) for crimes against humanity linked to the crackdown on the student-led protests of July and August 2024.
She wants to return as a political leader, but she has denied ordering the crackdown and has refused to apologise. Her party's activities remain banned in Bangladesh until the tribunal finishes its trials.
Indian officials have indicated that Bangladesh's renewed extradition request must go through India's legal process, with courts playing the deciding role.
International Crimes Tribunal (Bangladesh)
The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) is a special court in Bangladesh that tries people accused of the most serious crimes known to world law: genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Although it has "international" in its name, it is a domestic (national) court of Bangladesh, with Bangladeshi judges, working under a Bangladeshi law. The word "international" refers to the type of crimes it tries, not to the court itself. It was first set up to try crimes committed during Bangladesh's 1971 Liberation War, and since 2024 it has also been trying crimes linked to the 2024 uprising.
The tribunal's death sentence of November 2025 is the main legal hurdle to Sheikh Hasina's return. Bangladesh uses this verdict as the basis for its demand that India extradite her, while she rejects the tribunal's fairness. This is why her request for a passport has turned into a question of extradition.
India-Bangladesh Extradition Treaty (2013, amended 2016)
The India-Bangladesh Extradition Treaty is an agreement between the two neighbours to hand over to each other people who are wanted for serious crimes. If a person accused or convicted of a crime in one country runs away to the other, the treaty sets the rules for sending that person back. It was signed in January 2013 and amended in 2016 to make handovers easier. It works inside India through the Extradition Act, 1962.
Bangladesh now says it wants Sheikh Hasina back through extradition, not through a passport. Whether India hands her over will depend on the treaty's refusal grounds, such as the political offence exception, and on India's legal process.
Refugee Policy in India
A refugee is a person who has run away from their own country because they fear serious harm there, for example because of their religion, race or political opinion. India hosts many refugees and people seeking shelter, but it has no special national law for refugees. Each group or person is handled case by case, through government decisions and general laws on foreigners.
Sheikh Hasina has stayed in India since August 2024 without any formal refugee law covering her case, under India's executive discretion on foreigners. Her request for Bangladeshi travel documents and Dhaka's extradition demand test how India balances this discretion against its treaty duties to a neighbour.
- Sheikh Hasina in India since 5 August 2024; applied for a Bangladeshi passport and national ID card on 9 November 2026
- ICT verdict: 17 November 2025, death sentence in absentia for crimes against humanity
- International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973; tribunal set up in 2010; reconstituted on 14 October 2024
- India-Bangladesh Extradition Treaty: signed 2013, amended 2016 (Article 10(3): court warrant enough)
- Bangladesh's first formal extradition request: December 2024
- UN fact-finding report (February 2025): around 1,400 may have been killed in July and August 2024
- Bangladesh general election held on 12 February 2026
- India is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or the 1967 Protocol; Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025 in force from 1 September 2025