74 Fugitives extradited to India since 2002, another 150 yet to be extradited
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 15, 2019
As India pursues its efforts
to get Zakir Naik extradited from Malaysia, here is a look at the extradition
numbers.
Couple of days ago, theMinistry of External Affairs (MEA) asserted that it would continue its effortsto pursue Malaysia with regards to the extradition request of Dr. Zakir Naik. Theofficial spokesperson of MEA stated that Government of India has made a formal request and would bepursuing it.  This comes in wake of Malaysia PM’s statement that his country has the right not to extraditeDr.Zakir Naik.
India has anextradition treaty with Malaysia, signed in the year2010. So far, there have been no instances of anyone being extradited to Indiaby Malaysia.
India has extradition
treaties with 42 other countries
As per the data onMEA website, India currently has extradition treaties with 43 countries. The list of these countries is given below.
In addition, India also has extradition arrangementswith 10 other countries –  Antigua &Barbuda, Croatia, Fiji, Italy, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Sri Lanka, Singapore,Sweden and Tanzania.
What is the process to be followed for Extradition ?
An extradition request can be raised against any fugitive criminal who is formally accused of, charged or convicted of any extradition offence. The requests are raised bythe concerned law enforcement agencies in India, which are then taken up by MEAwith the respective countries.
There are certain guidelines specified by MEA, which need to be followed while raising any suchrequests. Further, it needs to be noted that the specifications of eachextradition request would differ based on the treaty/arrangement that is signedwith the respective countries.
What about the extradition treaty signed with
Malaysia?
India and Malaysia have signed an extradition treaty on 20 January, 2010.
As per this treaty,any punishable offence under the laws of the two states – whether committed,attempted or planned , would be considered as an extradition offence. Anyoffence of purely fiscal nature is also considered as an extradition offence asper the treaty. The treaty also specifies that in case there is a difference inlaw regarding the treatment of a particular offence, then the case presented bythe requesting party would be considered.
As for the caseagainst Dr.Zakir Naik, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed charges for laundering money to the tune of Rs. 193 crores. Indian authoritieshave also charged him with spreading hate crime and abetting terrorism. As pernewspaper reports, Malaysia has granted Permanent Resident (PR) status to Dr.Zakir Naik. This was confirmed byMalaysian authorities in the year 2017.
It has to be notedthat while the requesting party can raise an extradition request, citing thereasons for the same, the requested party has the option not to surrender thefugitive under certain conditions. The treaty between India & Malaysiaclearly lays down these conditions.
UAE is the country with most extraditions to India and
Murder is the most common offence of these fugitives
Extraditions do takea long time, right from the point of raising a formal request to that of successfully getting the fugitiveextradited. While, the fate of extradition request for Zakir Naik is yetunclear, India had 73 fugitives extradited since 2002, as per the latest data (as of January 2019) on the MEA website. However, asper the answer provided in the Rajya Sabha by MEA, in April’2018, there are 150pending requests for extradition.
Analysis of the available data indicates that  UAE has extradited most people (23) to India,followed by USA which has extradited 10 fugitives back to India.
In terms of offences by these fugitives, Murder, Criminal conspiracy and Terrorism top the list of offenses committed by the extradited fugitives.