Tag: GS 2|| International Relations || India & it’s Neighbours || Afghanistan

What is extradition?

As defined by Honorable Supreme Court of India , ‘Extradition is the delivery on the part of one State to another of those whom it is desired to deal with for crimes of which they have been accused or convicted and are justifiable in the Courts of the other State’.

An Extradition request for an accused can be initiated in the case of under-investigation, under–trial and convicted criminals. In cases under investigation, abundant precautions have to be exercised by the law enforcement agency to ensure that it is in possession of prima facie evidence to sustain the allegation before the Courts of Law in the Foreign State.

Extradition law of India

In India the Extradition Act, 1962 regulates the surrender of a person to another country or the request for arrest of a person in a foreign land.

regulates the surrender of a person to another country or the request for arrest of a person in a foreign land. The act specifies that any conduct of a person in India or in a foreign state that is mentioned in the list of extradition offence and is punishable with minimum one year of imprisonment qualifies for extradition request.

The process has to be initiated by the central government.

Major development in recent:

India and Afghanistan exchanged the instruments of ratification (approved) of their bilateral extradition treaty.

(approved) of their bilateral extradition treaty. The documents were exchanged by Afghan foreign minister Idrees Zaman and Indian Ambassador to Kabul Vinay Kumar.

Pakistani terrorists who enter Afghanistan illegally can also be extradited to India.

Why it is important for India:

From security point of view this extradition treaty is very important for india

As recently it has been seen that ISIS has been trying to make imprint in south Asia.

has been trying to make ISIS has made their establishment strong in Afghanistan and targeting Kashmir and Kerala state

ISIS through social media and other means try to spread their propaganda in region like Kerala where youth get influenced easily, this comes as big security threat for India.

Additional info:

Extradition is usually permissible only for relatively more serious offences , and not for trivial misdemeanors or petty offences.

, and not for trivial misdemeanors or petty offences. For instance, the extradition treaty between US and India permits extradition only for those offences which are punishable with more than one year of imprisonment (apart from the condition of dual criminality, which will be dealt a little later).

permits extradition only for those offences which are punishable with more than (apart from the condition of dual criminality, which will be dealt a little later). India has signed extradition treaty with many other countries like Azerbaijan, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Bhutan, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Egypt and some more other countries.

India has not signed any extradition treaty with With Saudi Arabia India signed extradition treaty in 2010 when the then prime minister Manmohan Singh visited Saudi Arabia.

Mains oriented question:

What are India’s extradition laws? What is the internationally accepted extradition condition? In what situation can any government deny extradition? (200 words)