After a special tribunal in Bangladesh sentenced ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina to death, several former Indian envoys have criticised the verdict and said the neighbouring country is once again “very polarised”, which does not augur well for its stability and security.

Veteran diplomat Veena Sikri, who served as India’s high commissioner to Bangladesh from 2003-2006, asked what legality the country’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has in trying a former prime minister, when it was appointed for trials only of those who had committed war crimes in the 1971 Liberation War.

“It is nothing but a kangaroo court,” she alleged.

Hasina was on Monday sentenced to death in absentia by the ICT for “crimes against humanity” over her government’s crackdown on student-led protests last yea

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