Bangladesh has formally asked India to extradite former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to this country in August after a student-led movement dislodged her from power.

A “note verbale” has been sent to the Indian government for sending Sheikh Hasina back to Bangladesh, Interim Government’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Touhid Hossain was quoted as saying by the Bangladeshi media. “We have sent a note verbale requesting India to send Sheikh Hasina back,” Mr Hossain told reporters.

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An official spokesperson of the Ministry of External affairs here said, ” we confirm that we have received a note verbale from the Bangladesh High Commission today in connection with an extradition request. At this time, we have no comment to offer on this matter.”

Sheikh Hasina fled to India on 5 August after she was ousted from power following weeks of protests and clashes that killed over 600 people. An interim government, led by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, has been ruling Bangladesh since then.

Dhaka has been upset with some of the statements Sheikh Hasina has made in recent weeks. On 9 December, she accused the Yunus-led interim government of being the “mastermind” behind the student protests that led to her ouster.

While addressing a virtual meeting of the United Kingdom Awami League, she claimed that despite all the demands of the protesters being met, the unrest continued across the nation, suggesting that it was a planned conspiracy.

Sheikh Hasina’s ouster and the subsequent attacks on the minorities, especially Hindus, across Bangladesh have cast a shadow on India-Bangladesh ties too. India has repeatedly asked Bangladesh to ensure the safety of minorities in the neighbouring country.

The matter was also raised with Dhaka when Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri visited the neighbouring country earlier this month. He had held talks his Bangladesh counterpart Md. Jashim Uddin and also called on Towhid Hossain. The meetings followed as ties between the two countries deteriorated over the past few months with India being concerned about the surge in extremist rhetoric, increasing violence incidents and provocations, especially against the Hindu community in Bangladesh.

In fact, the Union External Affairs Minister, Mr S. Jaishankar, had also held a bilateral meeting with Hossain on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York which was the first high-level engagement between the two countries after Hasina’s ouster in August.

Even Hasina has also strongly condemned the “tortures” inflicted on common people, especially minorities, by the interim government. She had stated that a top leader of the sanatan religious community has been “unjustly arrested” and must be “released immediately”.

“A temple has been burnt in Chittagong. Previously, mosques, shrines, churches, monastries and houses of Ahmadiya commnunity were attacked, vandalized and looted and set on fire. Religious freedom and security of life and property of people of all communities should be ensured’, she stated.