- UK Home Secretary has certified India’s Enforcement Directorate(ED) extradition request for fugitive diamond dealer Nirav Modi.He is wanted in the Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case.
- Extradition is simply the surrender of a criminal to one country by another.The process is regulated by treaties between the two countries.Extradition is governed by the Indian Extradition Act,1962.India has extradition treaties with 44 countries.So,this means these countries generally accept that the offender will be treated as criminal in both countries.India also has extradition arrangements with 9 countries, which means India and these countries agree to assist mutually each other in “legal procedures”.
- 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.
The Act specifies a list of extradition offences –an offence provided for in the extradition treaty with that state.The process has to be initiated by the central government. - India and UK have signed Extradition treaty in 1992 and has been in effect since 1993.As per Article 2,an extradition offence is one which,under the laws of each state,entails imprisonment for at least one year.
- ED is a law enforcement agency and economic intelligence agency responsible for enforcing economic laws and fighting economic crime in India.It is part of the Department of Revenue,Ministry of Finance.
