Bangladesh and India can now extradite suspects with police warrants against them

Bangladesh and India can now extradite suspects with police warrants against them.

The provision, which requires no evidence of crime, was brought in by amending a section of the existing extradition treaty between the neighbouring countries on convicted or under-trial suspects.

A Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina approved the proposal to amend the extradition treaty on Monday.

Bangladesh and India initiated the pact on Jan 28, 2013. The Cabinet ratified the treaty on Oct 7. The deal has been in effect since Oct 23 of that year.

India wanted a ‘complex’ section of the treaty ‘simplified’, said Cabinet Secretary Md Shafiul Alam, briefing the press after the meeting.

“If a judge, magistrate or a tribunal in our country, or any other authority of this nature issues a warrant against a person who is Indian, then we can seek extradition.”

“A person from Bangladesh, who has a warrant against him here, may be living in India. India in that case will hand him over to Bangladesh for trial.

“In the same way, we will hand over to India, if it wants, someone who has a warrant against him there.”

The deal previously required evidence before a suspect with a warrant against him or her could be extradited for trial, he said.  

The Cabinet’s approval of the amendment means handing over someone will require only an arrest warrant being issued. 

In November last year, Bangladesh handed over Anup Chetia, a top-ranking Assamese separatist leader of the ULFA, after he had spent 18 years in incarceration in Bangladesh.  

Within a few days India sent over Noor Hossain, the prime accused in the seven-murder case of Narayanganj. Noor had been a fugitive in Kolkata.  

Chetia’s term had ended eight years before his handover to India. Officials then said it was delayed due to the absence of a deal on the return of convicts to their countries.    

The treaty took effect in 2013, but Chetia could not be sent back under it because it required submission of proof. Similar complications arose in Hossain’s case.

The two men were handed over, but not under the terms of the treaty, according to Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal.

“This did not happen under the extradition treaty,” he said, “The high commissioner was informed before they were set free. They took over from there.”