Manifesting intensification of bilateral cooperation, India and Germany today signed anextradition treaty to combat crime and terrorism.
The treaty, which was signed by Home Minister L K Advani and Germany's Federal Minister of State HertaDaeubler-Gmelin, will enable the two countries to extradite a person wanted in "extraditable offences".
Extraditable offences under the treaty are the ones which are punishable under the laws of both the States andare punishable by a term of imprisonment of at least one year. Extradition will also be granted in respect of anattempt or conspiracy to commit, or aiding, abetting, inciting or participating as an accomplice in thecommission of an extraditable offence, a senior Indian official told PTI.
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"The cooperation between the two States in signing the extradition treaty will be of great help in combatingcrime, especially heinous crimes like terrorist crimes," the official said.
With the signing of the agreement on the concluding day of Advani's four-day visit, Germany has become thesecond country in Europe to have extradition treaty with India after Britain.
The treaty was proposed to be signed in 1998 during the visit of Indian President K R Narayanan toGermany. It was, however, held up on account of a ruling of the Constitutional Court of Germany on 'DataProtection', as a result of which the German side had to revise the terms of all their existingand proposed extradition treaties, incorporating provisions relating to data protection and privacy.
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The German side had therefore proposed a new paragraph to be introduced as Article 24 of the treaty onaccount of the ruling of their highest court.
The Indian side also suggested some modifications in the draft. After fresh negotiations, the text of the treatywas finalised in May 2001 and the approval of both governments was accorded thereafter.
