Sheikh Hasina must return to Bangladesh to face her sentence

For families who lost relatives in Bangladesh’s July-August 2024 uprising, Sheikh Hasina’s presence in India is far more than just a question of political refuge. Some are caring for injured relatives, while others have been left devastated by their losses. Parents have rooms that are now empty.

When the ousted prime minister speaks to Bangladeshis from India, the question arises: Why should those who paid the price for democracy have to watch the very person they hold responsible for their suffering continue to intervene in Bangladesh’s politics from abroad? In February 2025, the UN Human Rights Office estimated that as many as 1,400 people may have been killed during the 2024 uprising, with thousands more injured. It identified systematic repression by the former government, the security forces and violent elements of the Awami League, and concluded that there was an official policy of violent suppression that warranted further investigation into potential crimes against humanity.

These were international findings of fact, not a criminal verdict.