Defence agent Sanjay Bhandari’s extradition cleared by a London court

Defence agent Sanjay Bhandari’s extradition cleared by a London court

Subject: International Relations

Context: A London court on Monday ordered extradition of businessman Sanjay Bhandari to India to face charges of tax evasion and money laundering.

About extradition

• Extradition is the legal process to transfer person from one country to another who requires him/her to deal with for crimes of which they have been accused or convicted and are justifiable in the Courts of the other State.
• In India it is governed under the Indian Extradition Act, 1962. This is for both extraditing of persons to India and from India to foreign countries.
• The Consular, Passport & Visa (CPV) Division, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India is the Central/Nodal Authority that administers the Extradition Act and it processes incoming and outgoing Extradition Requests.
• The basis of extradition is treaty between two countries.
• In the absence of a treaty, a country can still make a request, which the other country will decide in accordance with its laws.

Procedure of extradition

• Information about the fugitive criminals is shared with the country of extradition through Interpol (in India CBI has an Interpol wing who does it for request from other countries), who passes to the police departments of that country.
• The information is passed to the immigration authorities.
• Post this action can be initiated for the extradition.
• In between the alleged criminal can utilize the appeal procedure against the extradition in country from where extradition is supposed to be done.

Most treaties generally follow at least five principles:

• Extradition applies only to offences stipulated as extraditable
• The offences must be covered under the national laws of both countries
• The requested country must be satisfied of a prima facie case
• The person must be tried only for the offence specified in extradition
• There must be a fair trial.

An alleged offender may not be extradited to the requesting state in the following cases:

• No treaty – In absence of a treaty, States are not obligated to extradite aliens/nationals.
• No treaty crime – Extradition is generally limited to crimes identified in the treaty which may vary in relation to one State from another, as provided by the treaty.
• Military and Political Offences – Extradition may be denied for purely military and political offences. Terrorist offences and violent crimes are excluded from the definition of political offences for the purposes of extradition treaties.
• Want of Dual Criminality – Dual criminality exists when conduct constituting the offence amounts to a criminal offence in both India and the foreign country.
• Procedural considerations – Extradition may be denied when due procedure as required by the Extradition Act of 1962 is not followed.