New Delhi: Bangladesh’s foreign office has asked India to send back former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina immediately after her conviction by the International Crimes Tribunal. The interim government in Dhaka insists the request falls under India’s “obligatory duty” in the bilateral extradition treaty. However, the legal position is far more complicated, and the treaty itself creates a wide buffer that protects New Delhi from any immediate action.

Officials and former diplomats familiar with the agreement point out that India is not bound to extradite the former prime minister because the treaty carries a major exemption for offences that are political in nature. They say that extradition is never a diplomatic instruction but a judicial procedure and that any such process must begin in Ind

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