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All about 125-year-old extradition treaty India is using to bring Mehul Choksi from Belgium
The treaty was first signed on 29 October 1901 between Britain, who was ruling India at the time, and Belgium and underwent amendments in 1907, 1911, and 1958.
Mehul Choksi, a fugitive diamond trader accused of defrauding the Punjab National Bank of over ₹13,500 crore, has been arrested in Belgium after a seven-year-long struggle by Indian agencies to extradite him to India.
Mehul Choksi was arrested on Saturday while he was reportedly preparing to flee to Switzerland citing medical reasons. However, Belgium authorities acted swiftly on request of Indian investigation agencies - Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) and arrested him.
Wasting no time, Indian agencies reportedly made use of an almost 125-year-old extradition treaty between India and Belgium and have requested Choksi’s extradition so he can be tried for the charges levied against him.
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India-Belgium extradition treaty
The treaty was first signed on 29 October 1901 between Britain, which was ruling India at the time, and Belgium and underwent amendments in 1907, 1911, and 1958. However, after India gained independence, the two countries (India and Belgium) decided to continue the treaty through an exchange of letters in 1954.
The treaty agrees to extradite people accused or charged of committing serious crimes if found on each other’s soil. A person can be extradited between India and Belgium for some serious crimes such as murder, manslaughter, forgery or counterfeiting of money, fraud, rape, extortion, illegal drug trafficking, and more.
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Key features of the treaty
- Dual criminality is a major key feature to seek anyone’s extradition between India and Belgium. It means that the crime the person is accused of or charged with shall be considered a punishable crime in both the countries.
- Enough and strong evidence of either conviction of the said criminal/accused or their crimes, in case they are yet to be tried, shall be presented by the country seeking extradition.
- Neither country is obliged to extradite their own citizen(s).
- An extradition request can be denied if it is found to be politically motivated or for political crimes.
- The treaty also puts a certain timeline on the extradition process. If the country seeking extradition of an accused or a criminal does not make a formal request within 14 days of the said person’s arrest, that person may be released. The person can also be released if enough proof of their crime is not presented within two months of their arrest.
- Also, an extradited person can not be tried for any new crime after their extradition, unless they get a chance to return first. The person cannot be sent to a third country without their home country’ permission.
Extradition requested
India had requested extradition of Mehul Choksi from Belgium in August 2024, immediately after he was tracked in Antwerp by CBI’s global operations centre. Now that he is arrested, Indian agencies have made a formal request to Belgium to extradite Choksi under several sections of the Indian Penal Code.
According to a CBI officer, who didn’t want to be named, the IPC sections invoked to seek Choksi’s extradition include - 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 201 (destruction of evidence), 409 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 477A (falsification of accounts), and sections 7 and 13 (bribery) of the prevention of corruption act.
India’s request to arrest and extradite Choksi in 2024 was examined by Belgium at several levels before being accepted. Another CBI officer, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Belgium was convinced with the evidence provided by the agency that the charges were punishable offences in their country as well.
“As dual criminality is a key requirement in extradition, the Belgian government was convinced with our investigation. They certified that Indian charges are punishable crimes in Belgium as well,” he said.
With inputs from Neeraj Chauhan.
