Hasina verdict tests India

The death sentence awarded to former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina for her alleged role in the ruthless suppression of the 2024 student agitation, which claimed nearly 1,400 lives, has placed India in an unenviable diplomatic corner.

- 

The verdict, delivered by the International Crimes Tribunal after its provisions were controversially amended by the current dispensation, has intensified concerns about both the fairness of the trial and the political motivations behind it. Tried in absentia, Hasina has repeatedly argued that if at all she was to be prosecuted, it should have been before the International Court of Justice at The Hague, nota tribunal whose credibility has long been questioned. The Muhammad Yunus-led government, which replaced her administration after a mass uprising drove her from power, appears determined to exact swift retribution. The Tribunal concluded that Hasina had personally ordered police and military units to crush the protests with a heavy hand. Her supporters insist that the charges are exaggerated, even fabricated, and that the trial was litt