India on Saturday said it cannot provide a timeline for deposed Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s return, as the government continues to examine Dhaka’s request for her extradition through an established legal process.
Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Dinesh Trivedi said India had little choice but to provide Hasina refuge when she arrived in the country amid a massive anti-government agitation in August 2024.
“Nobody can give you a time frame (over Hasina’s return),” Trivedi said while speaking at the fifth edition of the Bay of Bengal Conversation 2026 in Dhaka.
India has repeatedly maintained that Bangladesh’s request for Hasina’s extradition is being examined in accordance with established legal procedures.
“Again and again, the government of India has replied to this that there is a process, and the process is legal, and it is well structured,” Trivedi said.
The high commissioner noted that Hasina was flown to India on a Bangladesh Air Force aircraft on August 5, 2024, after weeks of protests led to the fall of her government. A Bangladesh Army-led security detail escorted her from her official residence as protesters moved towards the premises.
“At that point in time, she was still the prime minister of Bangladesh. We had hardly any choice on that. It was our duty as a neighbour to accept the reality of life, because situations are such where at times you are not prepared for it,” Trivedi said.
“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,” he added.
The Bay of Bengal Conversation was inaugurated by Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman. He was not present when Trivedi made the remarks, which reaffirmed New Delhi’s position that Hasina’s extradition request remains subject to the legal process.
