Bangladesh has endorsed an extradition treaty with India paving the way for exchange of convicts or under-trial criminals between the countries.
Published : 07 Oct 2013, 04:17 PM
A cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ratified the treaty on Monday.
Cabinet Secretary Muhammad Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told reporters after the meeting that the Indian cabinet has already endorsed it and the treaty will come into effect after the documents are exchanged.
On Jan 28, home minister M.K Alamgir and his Indian counterpart Sushil Kumar Shinde signed the treaty.
The treaty will allow exchange of convicts sentenced for more a year in prison.
But the agreement would pave the way for sending back ULFA leader Anup Chetia to India as he has already served his sentence in Bangladesh.
Chetia, who has been in Bangladeshi prison for more than a decade, has recently expressed his desire to go back to India though he had earlier applied for political asylum.
On Dec 21, 1997, Chetia was arrested from Dhaka's Mohammadpur area.
A Bangladeshi court had ordered him jailed on three counts of trespass into Bangladesh, possessing foreign currency and satellite phone.
His jail term ended on Feb 25, 2007. But, could not be sent back due to lack of an extradition treaty.
The treaty clears way to bring back Bangladesh crime-lords like Subrata Bain and Sazzad Hossain who are in jail in India.
The Bangladeshi home ministry announced reward for 23 top terrorists in 2001, Bain was among them.
In 2008, Bain was arrested with firearms from Kolkata's Karaiya area and charged under the Arms Act and illegal trespass.
In 2009, Bain jumped bail and the police had arrested him last year.
Bain faces numerous charges of murder and extortion in Bangladesh.
He came in to lime-light after the killing of Murad in 1991 at the capital's Agargaon area. Murad was a member of JSD Chhatra League, the student affiliate of a left-wing party.
Subrata Bain and Sazzad Hossain are currently held in the Tihar Jail of India.
If all goes well, the two would return to Bangladesh around the same time Chetia is sent back to India.