An Extradition Treaty is a bilateral or multilateral agreement between sovereign states, serving as a specific legal instrument to govern the formal surrender of an individual accused or convicted of a crime for prosecution or punishment. The practice is ancient, with the oldest documented treaty dating back to approximately 1259 B.C. between the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II and the Hittite king Hattusili III. The modern concept evolved in medieval Europe to solve the problem of fugitives evading justice by crossing international borders.
The mechanism works when a requesting state submits a formal request, typically through diplomatic channels, to the requested state. The requested state then evaluates the request based on the treaty and its domestic law. Key provisions include dual criminality, meaning the act must be a crime in both countries, and the rule of specialty, which restricts prosecution to only the offense(s) for which extradition was granted. Extradition is often refused for political offenses or if the person faces the death penalty without assurances.
In India, the legislative foundation is the Extradition Act, 1962, which, as amended in 1993, provides the basis for surrendering a fugitive criminal. The Ministry of External Affairs is the Central Authority for these matters. India currently holds treaties with 48 countries and arrangements with 12 others. Recently, the legal framework has been connected to the new criminal codes, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), which govern the procedures. The BNSS also allows India to seek extradition without a treaty based on reciprocity.