BRIJ BHUSHAN BANSAL Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) An interesting question has been raised in these writ petitions and that is whether the considerations which are required to be taken into account under Section 31(1)(d) of the Extradition Act, 1962 are to be examined by the Central Government prior to the issuance of an order of Magisterial Inquiry passed under Section 5 thereof or at the stage of consideration indicated in Section 8 of the said Act ?

(2.) On 29.01.2010, a note verbale was issued by the Embassy of the United States of America, New Delhi to the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India requesting the extradition and continued detention or arrest of Mr Brij Bhushan Bansal [petitioner in WP(Crl) No.1530/2010], Ms Julie Aggarwal (Shivani Aggarwal) and Mr Yatindra Kumar Aggarwal [both of whom are petitioners in WP (Crl) No.1531/2010] and Mr Himanshu Kulshrestha [petitioner in WP(Crl) No.44/2011] in accordance with the Extradition Treaty. The said note verbale indicated that the charges on the basis of which Extradition was being sought had been set forth in the indictment dated 06.08.2004 and the superseding indictment dated 04.01.2006 returned in the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The relevant documents containing the charges, etc. were attached with the said note verbale.

(3.) Acting on the said note verbale, the Ministry of External Affairs passed an order on 22.04.2010, which is to the following effect:- <FRM>JUDGEMENT_5125_ILRDLH22_2012_1.html</FRM>