India

The Delhi High Court held that Article 17 of the India–UAE Extradition Treaty allows the prosecution of an extradited person not only for the offences for which extradition was granted, but also for “offences connected therewith” arising from the same factual background. The Court rejected the petitioner’s argument that his prosecution for additional offences violated the principle of speciality and Section 21 of the Indian Extradition Act, finding that the requested State’s consent to prosecute connected offences is effectively incorporated into the treaty itself.

The High Court of England and Wales allowed the appeal against an extradition order to India in relation to financial offences, finding that surrender would expose the requested person to a real risk of inhuman or degrading treatment. The Court relied on detailed evidence concerning detention conditions and the use of coercion by investigative authorities, concluding that the diplomatic assurances provided were insufficient to mitigate that risk. The Court further held that the applicant would face a real risk of a flagrant denial of justice, in light of procedural features of the criminal system, including provisions capable of reversing the burden of proof. On this basis, extradition was barred under Articles 3 and 6 ECHR, and the appellant was discharged.

The case concerned the attempted reliance, in relations between Italy and India, on the 1873 bilateral extradition convention concluded between Italy and the United Kingdom, at a time when the United Kingdom exercised colonial authority over India. The Rome Court of Appeal examined whether treaties concluded by a colonial power could continue to apply to a newly independent successor State notwithstanding the general “clean slate” principle. It held that devolution agreements between the former colonial power and the newly independent State are, in themselves, res inter alios acta and cannot be invoked against the original treaty counterparty unless followed by a formal act of succession, in the case of multilateral treaties, or by a specific agreement between the successor State and the original counterparty, usually by exchange of notes, in the case of bilateral treaties. The Court further observed that continuation could also be inferred from unequivocal conduct showing both States’ intention to remain bound by the treaty. In the absence of such formal steps or conclusive conduct, the Court held that the 1873 Italy–United Kingdom extradition convention was not applicable between Italy and India.