DHAKA: Bangladesh’s main opposition party BNP on Tuesday urged India to extradite deposed PM Sheikh Hasina to face trial in murder and other cases registered against her since she took flight on August 5 in the face of a student-led uprising. “It is our call to you that you should hand her over to government of Bangladesh in a legal way.
The people of this country have given the decision for her trial.Let her face that trial,” BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said in Dhaka after paying tribute to the party’s founder president Ziaur Rahman.
Alamgir said Hasina being allowed to take refuge in India isn’t aligned with the country’s commitment to upholding democratic principles. “Staying there, she has started various plots to thwart the revolution that happened in Bangladesh.”
Bangladesh & India have extradition treaty and must hand over people against whom court case is on
Bangladesh and India have extradition treaty based on which they are required to hand over people against whom proceedings have been initiated in courts for any “extraditable crime”, including financial offences liable to invite a minimum punishment of a year in jail.
BNP, whose ailing chairperson and ex-PM Khaleda Zia was freed from house arrest after Hasina fled, said the murder and extortion cases filed against the latter were in the “extraditable” category.
The bilateral treaty isn’t applicable to cases that are “political in nature”, although this exemption is not available to those charged with serious crimes like murder, sources said.
India can turn down any request for Hasina’s extradition by citing Article 8 of the treaty, which allows the signatories to refuse requests that have “not been made in good faith and in the interests of justice”. The BNP secretary general alleged that Hasina’s Awami League was “still conspiring in New Delhi to falsify the victory” of students and other citizens of Bangladesh. “I am saying this strongly, and we want to make it clear that I do not think that India can get much love from the people by sheltering the enemy of the people of Bangladesh, who had to flee from the country,” Alamgir said.
Awami League has criticised Bangladesh’s interim government for cases registered against Hasina, terming them “false and politically motivated”.
The people of this country have given the decision for her trial.Let her face that trial,” BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said in Dhaka after paying tribute to the party’s founder president Ziaur Rahman.
Alamgir said Hasina being allowed to take refuge in India isn’t aligned with the country’s commitment to upholding democratic principles. “Staying there, she has started various plots to thwart the revolution that happened in Bangladesh.”
Bangladesh & India have extradition treaty and must hand over people against whom court case is on
Bangladesh and India have extradition treaty based on which they are required to hand over people against whom proceedings have been initiated in courts for any “extraditable crime”, including financial offences liable to invite a minimum punishment of a year in jail.
BNP, whose ailing chairperson and ex-PM Khaleda Zia was freed from house arrest after Hasina fled, said the murder and extortion cases filed against the latter were in the “extraditable” category.
The bilateral treaty isn’t applicable to cases that are “political in nature”, although this exemption is not available to those charged with serious crimes like murder, sources said.
India can turn down any request for Hasina’s extradition by citing Article 8 of the treaty, which allows the signatories to refuse requests that have “not been made in good faith and in the interests of justice”. The BNP secretary general alleged that Hasina’s Awami League was “still conspiring in New Delhi to falsify the victory” of students and other citizens of Bangladesh. “I am saying this strongly, and we want to make it clear that I do not think that India can get much love from the people by sheltering the enemy of the people of Bangladesh, who had to flee from the country,” Alamgir said.
Awami League has criticised Bangladesh’s interim government for cases registered against Hasina, terming them “false and politically motivated”.