Four stages cleared, 3 more to go before Mallya gets extradited

AN EXTRADITION REQUEST FROM INDIA NEEDS DECISIONS BY UK HOME SECRETARY AS WELL AS THE COURTS

There are at least seven stages that an Indian extradition request needs to pass through before an individual resident in the United Kingdom is actually sent to India — the process includes the question of death penalty and human rights.

India is included in Type B of Category 2 list of countries in Britain’s Extradition Act of 2003. A treaty between the two countries was signed in 1992 when SB Chavan was India’s home minister, and it came into effect from 1993. An extradition request from India needs decisions by both home secretary and courts.

The process to these territories follows these steps: extradition request is made to the home secretary; the secretary decides whether to certify the request; the judge decides whether to issue a warrant for arrest; the person wanted is arrested and brought before the court; preliminary hearing; extradition hearing; and, the secretary decides whether to order the extradition.

There is also the final recourse — UK leaves the EU— to approach the European Court of Human Rights.

In Mallya’s case, the first four stages have been completed. Under rules, after the person sought has been arrested, he is brought before the court and the judge sets a date for the extradition hearing.

At the extradition hearing, the judge must be satisfied that the conduct amounts to an extradition offence (dual criminality), that none of the bars to extradition apply, where applicable, that there is prima facie evidence of guilt (in accusation cases).

If the judge is satisfied that all of the procedural requirements are met, and that none of the statutory bars to extradition apply, the case is sent to the home secretary for a decision to be taken on whether to order extradition. The person sought can appeal at various stages.

However, extradition is prohibited if: the person could face the death penalty (unless the home secretary gets adequate written assurance that the death penalty will not be imposed or, if imposed, will not be carried out).

It can also be prohibited if there are no speciality arrangements with the requesting country – ‘speciality’ requires that the person must be dealt with in the requesting state only for the offences for which they have been extradited (except in certain limited circumstances).

Another ground for refusal is if the person has already been extradited to the UK from a third state.