India cannot set a deadline for the return of ousted Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina as her extradition request is being examined through a legal process, Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Dinesh Trivedi said on Saturday, reported PTI.
"Nobody can give you a timeframe" for Hasina's return, Trivedi said at a discussion organised by a private think tank in Dhaka, responding to questions on repeated requests from Bangladesh for her extradition.
Hasina, 79, has been living in India since fleeing Dhaka on August 5, 2024, after her government collapsed amid a mass anti-government agitation.
India's Ministry of External Affairs has maintained that Bangladesh's request for her extradition is being examined through established 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.
He also clarified that Hasina was not brought to India by the Indian Air Force or the Army. She was flown to India aboard a Bangladesh Air Force aircraft on August 5 as protesters moved towards her official residence.
At the time, she was escorted from her residence by a Bangladesh Army-led security detachment.
"At that point in time, 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," 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.
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.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, who delivered the opening remarks at the fifth edition of the Bay of Bengal Conversation 2026 on Saturday, was not present during Trivedi's panel discussion.
The comments were Trivedi's first explicit remarks on the extradition issue. He had previously declined to comment on matters involving "politics".
Following the fall of Hasina's government, an interim administration led by Muhammad Yunus took office on August 8, 2024 and governed Bangladesh for the next 18 months. Bilateral ties between India and Bangladesh deteriorated during the Yunus-led administration.
During that period, Hasina was tried in absentia by a special tribunal and sentenced to death. The interim government also dissolved her Awami League party and sought her extradition through a diplomatic note.
After taking office following the February 12 elections, in which the Awami League was barred from contesting, Tarique Rahman's Bangladesh Nationalist Party government endorsed the ban on Hasina's party and repeatedly renewed the demand for her extradition.
The extradition request has become a major point of tension in India-Bangladesh relations and has also affected Rahman's proposed visit to New Delhi.
India had invited Rahman to attend the BRICS Summit last month, while a separate bilateral invitation had been pending since February. Rahman declined the invitation to attend the BRICS outreach summit.
Tensions also increased after Hasina addressed a virtual press conference from New Delhi on August 5. The Bangladesh foreign ministry had said the atmosphere for Rahman's proposed visit had been "vitiated" by Hasina's virtual interaction.
India has said it had no role in the media event and does not endorse statements made at the forum concerning the Bangladesh government.
Despite the strained bilateral ties, Bangladesh State Minister for Foreign Affairs Humaiun Kobir said after meeting Trivedi on Tuesday that Dhaka was "positive" about progress in discussions on Rahman's proposed visit to India. No date has been fixed for the visit.
(With inputs from PTI)