Bangladesh will take all necessary legal steps to bring former prime minister Sheikh Hasina back from India under the two countries' extradition treaty, Law Minister Md Asaduzzaman has said.

Speaking to reporters in Dhaka on Sunday, 8 November, Asaduzzaman said Dhaka had requested Hasina's repatriation under the treaty and through due process, and expressed hope that India would hand her over. He was speaking after inaugurating a workshop on integrity in judicial proceedings for judges of subordinate courts at a hotel in the capital.

"All necessary legal steps to bring her back have been taken. She is a criminal in our eyes," Asaduzzaman said, according to The Business Standard. He described Hasina as a person convicted by Bangladesh's tribunal, telling reporters: "To me, she is a criminal. A criminal convicted by our tribunal. To us, this is her identity."

The minister stressed that the matter would be handled strictly according to the law. "The matter will be dealt with in accordance with the law, leaving no room for emotions," he said. He explained that although his own ministry was not directly involved, the Ministry of Home Affairs was dealing with the extradition request because it concerned the treaty with India.

Asked whether Bangladesh would fight a legal battle in an Indian court to secure her return, Asaduzzaman said that question was for the Indian government. "We have sent a request to them under the extradition treaty. If they hand her over to us, we will bring her under the law through due process in the manner required," he said.

India has previously acknowledged receiving Bangladesh's extradition requests for Hasina but has not announced any decision on handing her over. India's Ministry of External Affairs has said the requests are being examined under its established procedures.

Hasina fled to India on 5 August 2024 after weeks of mass protests ended her 15-year rule. An interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus subsequently took charge, and parliamentary elections in February 2026 brought the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, led by Tarique Rahman, to power.

In November 2025, Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal convicted Hasina of crimes against humanity in connection with the government's response to the July-August 2024 protests. The tribunal, which tried her in absentia, sentenced her to death on one charge and to life imprisonment on another.

Hasina has spoken publicly about returning to Bangladesh. In August, she said she intended to return in December, even though she could face arrest or imprisonment. That statement drew a sharp reaction from Dhaka, whose foreign ministry said it was outraged that she had been allowed to engage with the media, while India said the event had been organised by a private media entity and that the government had no involvement in it.

At the same event on Sunday, Asaduzzaman also said Bangladesh expected justice in the Rohingya genocide case, with a verdict due at the International Court of Justice on 19 November.

For now, the extradition question rests with New Delhi. Dhaka says it has completed the legal steps on its side and is waiting for India to decide, while India has given no public indication of when, or whether, it will agree to the request.