New Delhi: Senior Advocate Dr Adish C Aggarwala has urged president of the Bangladesh’s Supreme Court Bar Association A M Mahbub Uddin Khokon to safeguard the lives and properties of Hindus who are being targeted in Bangladesh.
In a letter written to the Bangladesh Bar Association president, Dr Aggarwala, who is the former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) India, that the Bar should come forward and give protection to the Hindus whose houses and businesses as well as temples have been targeted, looted, damaged during the ongoing turmoil in Bangladesh.
Reminding Khokon of the cordial relations between two countries, he said that the Legal fraternity of India and Bangladesh have always worked very closely and lawyers’ delegations from both countries have visited each other to create friendship and harmony between the neighbours.
“Not only this, many erstwhile Chief Justices of Bangladesh have attended our international conferences of Jurists in London and New Delhi,” said Dr Aggarwala, who also holds the position of president, International Council of Jurists, London.
Dr Aggarwala, who is also chairman of the All India Bar Association, stressed that the Bar is the protector of human rights. The Bar of South Asian countries always stood up to protect human rights.
“I read in news reports that it has been urged by you in the capacity of president of Supreme Court Bar Association of Bangladesh that India should arrest the former Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina and her sister Sheikh Rehana and return them to Bangladesh,” he said.
Further, Dr Aggarwala quoted Khokon and said, “You stated, ‘We want to maintain a positive relationship with the people of India. Please arrest Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana, who fled the country and send them back to Bangladesh.”
“In this background, I would like to refer to the ‘Treaty between India and Bangladesh relating to Extradition’, which was signed in Dhaka on January 28, 2013, and was ratified on October 23, 2013.
The relevant Articles of the Extradition Treaty make it mandatory that for extradition, a person should be someone ‘who have been proceeded against or have been charged with or have been found guilty of or are wanted for the enforcement of a judicially pronounced penalty for committing an extraditable offence.’
“Since there is no news report that Sheikh Hasina and her sister Sheikh Rehana have been charged with any criminal offence and we are not aware of whether the government of Bangladesh has made an extradition request to the Indian government. In the absence of any official request from your country, our government cannot initiate such proceedings.
“We do not know whether there is any such communication of extradition requests from the Bangladesh government,” Dr Aggarwala said and asked Khokon if he had any information about the request made by the Bangladesh government to India.
“If so, then kindly provide said information to me immediately so that we can also impress upon the Government of India to extradite them to Bangladesh. Meanwhile, the Bar should ensure the safety of Hindus,” Dr Aggarwala added.
