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Indian envoy on giving shelter to Sheikh Hasina: 'It was our duty...she was still Bangladesh PM'
Former Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina has been living in India after fleeing Dhaka following the collapse of her government in August 2024.
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India, as a neighbour, had a duty to give shelter to former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina after she fled her country in August 2024, Indian High Commissioner in Bangladesh Dinesh Trivedi has said.
Trivedi said India “hardly had any choice” as “at that point in time, she (Hasina) was still the prime minister of Bangladesh". He also said the Awami League leader was not brought to India by the Indian Air Force or Army.
He was speaking at the Bay of Bengal Conversation 2026 in Dhaka on Saturday when he made the remarks. Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman gave the opening remarks at the fifth edition of the event, but was not present when Trivedi made the comments.
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"At that point in time, she (Hasina) 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…..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," Trivedi said.
Hasina has lived in India in self-exile since she fled Bangladesh after the sudden collapse of her government in the face of student-led protests in August 2024. Her extradition was first sought by the interim administration led by Muhammad Yunus, and the demand has been repeated by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government led by Rahman.
Her presence in India has remained an irritant in bilateral ties, which improved somewhat after the Tarique Rahman government came to power earlier this year. However, Dhaka has been angered by her interviews while in self-exile, including a recent one in which she announced her plan to return to Bangladesh -- where she faces a death sentence -- in December.
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Trivedi said New Delhi cannot set a deadline for her return, as her extradition request is under review as part of the legal process.
"Nobody can give you a time frame (over Hasina's return)," he said, in response to questions related to Dhaka's repeated requests for the former prime minister's extradition.
"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," he added.
The Ministry of External Affairs has repeatedly maintained that the Bangladesh government's request is being examined in line with established processes.
‘IAF didn't bring Sheikh Hasina to India’
Trivedi also clarified that Hasina had not been brought to India by the Indian Air Force or Army.
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A Bangladesh Air Force aircraft carried Hasina to India on August 5. The Bangladesh Army-led security detachment has escorted her from her official residence as protesters moved towards the premises.
Trivedi said the situation had unfolded because of "tragic circumstances" in Bangladesh and added that such circumstances should never be repeated anywhere in the world.
What happened after Sheikh Hasina-led admin’s toppling
After Sheikh Hasina's government was toppled, an interim administration led by Muhammad Yunus assumed office on August 8, 2024, and governed Bangladesh for the next one-and-a-half years.
India-Bangladesh ties witnessed a sharp deterioration during the Yunus-led interim administration, primarily due to tensions over Hasina's extradition demand, concerns over attacks on minorities and Dhaka's deeper engagement with China.
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In 2025, Hasina was tried in absentia by a special tribunal and sentenced to death.
The interim government also disbanded her party, the Awami League, and sought her extradition via a diplomatic note.
After coming to power following the February 12 elections, in which the Awami League was barred from contesting, Rahman's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government endorsed the ban on Hasina's party and repeatedly renewed the demand for her extradition.
Strain in bilateral ties
The extradition issue has continued to strain India-Bangladesh ties and has also affected Rahman's proposed visit to New Delhi.
India invited Rahman to attend the BRICS Summit last month, while a separate bilateral invitation was extended to him when he assumed office in February. Rahman did not attend the summit or visited New Delhi since taking office.
Bangladesh, however, said it is "positive" about progress in discussions regarding Rahman's proposed visit to India, though no date has been set yet.
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A virtual press conference by Hasina from New Delhi on August 5 added to tensions between the neighbouring countries.
On that day, Hasina declared that she was determined to return home in December to put the country on the “right track”. She said she was undeterred by the threat of imprisonment or a death sentence.
"I know, they may put me in jail or kill me," she said at the event, adding, "I will go back home to be with my people,” she said.
In her first telephonic interview with Indian media, Hasina questioned the BNP government’s move to link her extradition to a possible visit to New Delhi by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, saying she intends to return home on her own by December.Hasina, who spoke to HT from an unspecified location, also questioned the BNP government’s decision to acquire combat jets from China under a $2.3-billion deal at a time when Bangladesh is grappling with electricity and gas shortages, lack of fertilisers and a cost of living crisis.
