India refers Hasina passport query to Bangladesh, maintains legal stand on extradition

• India referred questions about Sheikh Hasina’s passport application to the Bangladesh high commission, saying her proposed return would require a travel document.

• Dhaka rejected the former prime minister’s request, while India maintained that Bangladesh’s extradition demand would be handled as a legal matter.

• The MEA separately criticised reports of Chinese livestreamers presenting footage filmed in Dhaka as scenes from New Delhi.

India on Tuesday declined to comment on former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s proposed return from exile, directing questions about her passport application to the Bangladesh high commission in New Delhi.

Hasina, who has lived in India since her removal from power in August 2024, has sought a passport and national identity card to facilitate a return to Bangladesh in December, according to her Awami League party.

Bangladesh revoked her passport after she fled the country. Dhaka has rejected her latest request, with Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Humayun Kabir saying the government does not issue passports to “terrorists” and renewing its demand for her extradition.

At a media briefing on 10 November, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the Bangladesh mission was better placed to respond to questions about the application. He also noted that the proposed journey would require a travel document.

“This is a question that you must pose to the Bangladeshi High Commission,” a report in The Wire quoted him as saying.

Asked about Dhaka’s extradition demand, Jaiswal reiterated India’s position that it was “a legal matter” and would be dealt with accordingly.

The Awami League announced Hasina’s application on Monday. The party, which was barred from contesting Bangladesh’s February general election, subsequently cited the Delhi-based Rights and Risks Analysis Group as arguing that denying her the right to return violated her rights.

Hasina was forced from office on 5 August 2024, following student-led protests, after which Bangladesh’s military facilitated her departure to India.

In 2025, a special tribunal sentenced her to death for crimes against humanity, holding her responsible for ordering a crackdown that killed hundreds and injured thousands.

Separately, The Wire report said the MEA criticised reports that Chinese vloggers and livestreamers had filmed neighbourhoods in Dhaka and falsely presented them to online audiences as parts of New Delhi.

Jaiswal described attempts to distort a country’s image as unfortunate and called on the authorities concerned to act against those responsible.

He said circulating false narratives damaged the credibility of both those producing the material and those supporting such activities.

The remarks followed a November 6 report by Bangladeshi newspaper Prothom Alo about Chinese citizens filming extensively in Dhaka’s Uttara area, including inside residents’ homes.

Residents told the newspaper that more than 150 Chinese vloggers and livestreamers were recording in local lanes and neighbourhoods. They said they did not know where the footage was being broadcast or what commentary accompanied it and complained of a lack of police monitoring.

According to the report, an analysis of the videos indicated that some footage was being misrepresented as scenes from India, accompanied by derogatory comments about sanitation, housing and food habits in New Delhi.

One example involved a Chinese woman identified as Mianmian, who reportedly livestreamed from beside a canal in Uttara’s Sector 12 while showing the Tekpara neighbourhood.

The newspaper said she identified the location as New Delhi and made disparaging remarks about its housing, cleanliness, development and law and order.

With agency inputs