India is set to extradite a Bangladeshi national, Mohammad Abdul Shakur, to the U.K., where he is accused of murdering his wife and children ten years ago. This is being seen as another signal of increasing cooperation between the two nations on sensitive, and potentially thorny issues in the home affairs arena.
Shakur ‘s extradition was recommended by a New Delhi court in 2013, but a case filed against him in India meant he remained in the country. India has now agreed to drop the case against him, and return him to Britain - something that could happen even within the next week or ten days. “We are willing to extend our cooperation even as they extend theirs,” a senior source said.
The development comses as India’s attempt to extradite liquor baron Vijay Mallya has progressed swiftly, from the formal request made in February this year, quickly followed up by Mr. Mallya’s arrest in April, and commencement of court proceedings in June (only delayed by the general election). The main hearing is set to take place in the first week of December, despite some attempts by Mr. Mallya’s defense to push it into next year. The Crown Prosecution Service, which is incharge of making the case on behalf of the Indian government, has emphasized its strong working relationship with Indian authorities who have provided them with over 2,000 pages of evidence against Mr. Mallya over the course of the past few months.
While the extradition of Shakur wont impact the process for Mr. Mallya, the movement on these two cases is a sign that the India-U.K. Extradition Treaty, which has been in place since 1992 is sufficient to deliver the kind of cooperation the two nations have sought, particularly with political backing. Last year, in what was considered a significant step forward, Britain extradited Samirbhai Vinubhai Patel, wanted in connection with the Gujarat pogrom. This was the first extradition to India to take place since the signing of the treaty. Others wanted by India include ‘Tiger’ Hanif (Mohammed Hanif Umerji Patel) who is sought for his role in terror attacks in Gujarat, and whose return was ordered by a British court in 2012.
The development comes at the end of a week-long visit by Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi to Britain to take part in the India-U.K. Home Affairs Dialogue, chaired by the British Home Office’s Permanent Secretary Philip Rutnam. The first dialogue took place in May, after being proposed during Prime Minister Theresa May’s visit to India last year. It is hoped that regular conversations can help the two nations iron out difficulties, including in the detail and processes surrounding some of the most controversial issues in bilateral relations. Following the press conference, Mr. Mehrishi signalled that progress had been made on a number of issues relating to visas, Britain’s concerns about Indian nationals who overstay their visas in Britain, and extradition processes, flagging that an unnamed person was set to be extradited from India in the next couple of weeks. The extradition treaty between the two nations was working “just fine,” he said at the time.
A spokesperson for the U.K. Home Office declined to comment on the development, saying that extradition to the U.K. was a matter for the requested State.
Sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs in Delhi confirmed that Shakur was “detained at the U.K.’s request” and will be extradited shortly.
The Ministry of External Affairs did not respond to a question on whether the Bangladesh government had been consulted on the decision.
(With inputs from Vijaita Singh in Delhi)
