Extradition: Principles and the Extradition Act, 1962

Extradition is the formal surrender of a person by one state to another for prosecution or punishment for a crime. Because a state cannot arrest anyone in another state's territory, extradition is the main legal route for bringing fugitives to trial. It rests on treaties and national law, and is shaped by principles protecting the person surrendered. This note covers those principles and India's Extradition Act, 1962, with recent cases.

1. Basis of Extradition

• No general duty. Customary international law imposes no duty to extradite; obligations arise from bilateral treaties, multilateral conventions and reciprocity.
• Aut dedere aut judicare. Many conventions, such as the Hague Convention, 1970, the Convention against Torture and the terrorism conventions, require a state either to extradite an alleged offender or to submit the case to its own prosecutors (Belgium v Senegal, 2012)
• Extradition and deportation. Extradition is surrender on request for criminal proceedings; deportation is the removal of an unwanted alien in the state's own interest; using deportation to achieve extradition while avoiding its safeguards is called disguised extradition.

2. Principles

Figure 1: Core principles of extradition

• Double criminality. The conduct must be a crime under the laws of both the requesting and the requested state, usually with a minimum penalty.
• Speciality. The person surrendered may be tried only for the offence for which extradition was granted, unless the surrendering state consents.
• Political offence exception. In Re Castioni (1891), a killing during an uprising in Switzerland was a political offence because it was incidental to and part of political disturbances; in Re Meunier (1894), an anarchist bombing was not, because anarchists opposed all government rather than seeking to replace one party with another; under the Belgian attentat clause (1856), the murder of a head of state or his family is not a political offence.
• Terrorism. Modern treaties, beginning with the European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism, 1977, exclude terrorist offences from the political offence exception.
• Human rights bars. States will not extradite where there is a real risk of torture or inhuman treatment (Soering, 1989), and many require assurances that the death penalty will not be imposed or carried out.

3. The Extradition Act, 1962

• Scope. Applies to foreign states with which India has extradition treaties or arrangements, and, by notification, to other states; India has treaties with more than forty countries and arrangements with others.
• Extradition offence, section 2(c). An offence covered by the treaty or, for non-treaty states, an offence punishable with imprisonment of at least one year under the laws of India or the foreign state.

Figure 2: Procedure for surrender from India

• Restrictions, section 31. No surrender if the offence is of a political character or the request is made to punish the person for such an offence, if prosecution is time barred, or if the requesting state's law does not provide for speciality; offences listed in the Schedule are not regarded as political.
• Discharge, section 29. The Central Government may refuse surrender or discharge the person if the case is trivial, the request is not made in good faith or is politically motivated, or surrender would be unjust.
• Speciality for India, section 21. A person surrendered to India may be tried only for the offence for which he was surrendered or for a lesser offence disclosed by the same facts.
• Death penalty, section 34C. Where a person is surrendered to India by a state whose law does not provide for the death penalty for the offence, he is liable to imprisonment for life only.

4. Indian Cases and Practice

Figure 3: Milestones in India's extradition practice

• Daya Singh Lahoria v Union of India (2001). A person extradited to India can be tried only for the offences for which extradition was granted; trial for other offences violates the rule of speciality in section 21.
• Abu Salem. Extradited from Portugal in 2005 on India's assurances that he would not be sentenced to death or to imprisonment beyond twenty-five years; in 2022, the Supreme Court held that the Government is bound by the assurance and must advise the President to exercise the power of remission when twenty-five years are completed, while courts are not themselves bound by it.
• Recent cases. Tahawwur Rana, accused in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, was extradited from the United States in April 2025; extradition proceedings against fugitives in economic offence cases have continued in the United Kingdom and elsewhere.
• Related tools. An Interpol Red Notice is a request to locate and provisionally arrest, not an arrest warrant; the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 allows declaration of a fugitive economic offender and confiscation of property; mutual legal assistance treaties cover evidence gathering.

5. Frequently Asked Questions

Can India extradite a person to a country with which it has no treaty?

Yes. By notification under the Extradition Act, the Central Government may apply the Act to a non-treaty state, and an extradition offence is then one punishable with at least one year's imprisonment under the laws of India or that state.

What is the rule of speciality?

That a person surrendered for one offence may be tried only for that offence, unless the surrendering state consents. In India, section 21 of the Act applies it to persons surrendered to India, as held in Daya Singh Lahoria (2001).

Is terrorism treated as a political offence in extradition?

Generally no. Modern treaties and the Schedule to India's Extradition Act list serious offences, including terrorist offences, that are not to be regarded as political, so the political offence exception cannot be used to shield terrorists.

Is an Interpol Red Notice an international arrest warrant?

No. It is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition. Whether an arrest follows depends on each country's law, and a formal extradition request is still required.

6. Related Topics

• Topic 34: Universal Jurisdiction. Belgium v Senegal and aut dedere aut judicare.
• Topic 40: Refugees and Statelessness. Non-refoulement and Soering.
• Topic 42: Asylum. Asylum and the political offence exception.