Extradition may be briefly described as the surrender of an alleged or convicted criminal by one State to another. More precisely, extradition may be defined as the process by which one State upon the request of another surrenders to the latter a person found within its jurisdiction for trial and punishment or, if he has been already convicted, only for punishment, on account of a crime punishable by the laws of the requesting State and committed outside the territory of the requested State.
Extradition plays an important role in the international battle against crime. It owes its existence to the so-called principle of territoriality of criminal law, according to which a State will not apply its penal statutes to acts committed outside its own boundaries except where the protection of special national interests is at stake. In view of the solidarity of nations in the repression of criminality, however, a State, though refusing to impose direct penal sanctions to offences committed abroad, is usually willing to cooperate otherwise in bringing the perpetrator to justice lest he goes unpunished.
ICPO-Interpol has been a forerunner in international efforts to improve and accelerate existing procedure of extradition. Apart from attempts by academic bodies such as the Harvard Research Draft Convention on Extradition, the ICPO-Interpol was the first international organization to recommend to member countries a Draft General Agreement for the Extradition of Offenders, which unfortunately has remained a dead letter since it was adopted by the General Assembly of the Organization (then known as the International Criminal Police Commission) in 1948.
Interpols interest in finding ways of improving the extradition process did not end with the failure of the Draft General Agreement. Since the early fifties, the General Secretariat of the ICPO-Interpol has undertaken on behalf of the member countries two new activities intended to facilitate international police co-operation in matters relating to extradition.
The first of these initiatives concerns the publication of a series of circulars on a country basis, setting out the provisional measures that the police in each country may take when complying with a request from the police of another member country for quick action with a view to identification and arrest of a person wanted on a warrant of arrest. The second initiative taken by the ICPO-Interpol consists in the dissemination of national extradition laws. This activity is based on a resolution of the General Assembly passed in 1967 in Tokyo (Japan) inviting member countries to forward the texts of their extradition laws to the General Secretariat so that the latter may send them to other member countries for their information. The pre-extradition circulars and the texts of extradition laws of the member countries received from the General Secretariat are being maintained in the Interpol Wing.
Position In India
In India the extradition of a fugitive from India to a foreign country or vice-versa is governed by the provisions of Indian Extradition Act, 1962. The basis of extradition could be a treaty between India and a foreign country. Under section 3 of this Act, a notification could be issued by the Government of India extending the provisions of the Act to the country/countries notified.
Information regarding the fugitive criminals wanted in foreign countries is received directly from the concerned country or through the General Secretariat of the ICPO-Interpol in the form of red notices. The Interpol Wing of the Central Bureau of Investigation immediately passes it on to the concerned police organizations. The red notices received from the General Secretariat are circulated to all the State Police authorities and immigration authorities.
The question arises that what action, if any, can be taken by the Police on receipt of an information regarding a fugitive criminal wanted in a foreign country. In this connection the following provisions of law are relevant:
– Action can be taken under the Indian Extradition Act Article No. 34 (b) of 1962. This act provides procedure for the arrest and extradition of fugitive criminals under certain conditions which includes receipt of the request through diplomatic channels ONLY and under the warrant issued by a Magistrate having a competent jurisdiction.
– Action can also be taken under the provisions of Section 41 (1) (g) of the Cr.P.C., 1973 which authorizes the police to arrest a fugitive criminal without a warrant, however, they must immediately refer the matter to Interpol Wing for onward transmission to the Government of India for taking a decision on extradition or otherwise.
In case the fugitive criminal is an Indian national, action can also be taken under Section 188 Cr.P.C., 1973 as if the offence has been committed at any place in India at which he may be found. The trial of such a fugitive criminal can only take place with the previous sanction of the Central Government.