After Nigerian National Absconds, Supreme Court Says Govt May Frame Policy To Prevent Foreign Accused From Fleeing

Unable to secure presence of a foreign national who jumped bail in a cyber fraud case and fled to Nigeria, the Supreme Court recently disposed of a bail cancellation matter while leaving it open for the Union to formulate a policy to ensure that foreign nationals do not flee the process after committing crimes.

 A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and AG Masih closed the proceedings after it was highlighted that there is no bilateral treaty between India and Nigeria and therefore extradition of the accused was unlikely.

Briefly put, an FIR was registered in 2019 and the accused (respondent no.1) was charged under Sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 471 & 120B of IPC and Section 66(D) of the Information Technology Act, 2000. He was granted bail by the Jharkhand High Court on 13.05.2022. The State approached the Supreme Court against the grant of bail, however, respondent No.1 flouted the bail conditions and absconded.

In November, 2024, the Supreme Court expressed concerns about the recurring instances of foreign citizens, who are accused of crimes, jumping bail and becoming untraceable. It was observed that a procedure needs to be laid down, if not already there, to deal with such instances.

Subsequently, the Union apprised the Court about certain guidelines framed pursuant to the order/letter of the Ministry of Home Affairs dated 04.12.2019. These related to "investigation abroad and issue of Letter Rogatory (LRs)/Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) Request and Service of Summons/Notices/Judicial documents" in respect of criminal matters.

Considering the same, the Court was of the view that the next step was for the Union to cooperate with Jharkhand government in order to bring back respondent no.1 so that he face the trial. In December, the Court cancelled the bail granted to respondent No.1 and called on the Union as well as the State to take necessary steps. To deal with the larger issue of formulation of guidelines for courts so that such incidents were not repeated, the matter was re-listed.

On August 26, the Court was informed that Ministry of External Affairs sent a communication to the High Commission of India, Abuja, Nigeria, on the basis of "Assurance of Reciprocity", for onward transmission to the concerned Nigerian authorities. However, as there was no bilateral treaty between India and Nigeria, it was unlikely that Nigerian authorities would extradite their own national.

In this backdrop, the Court disposed of the matter, while leaving it open for the Union to "formulate an appropriate policy or initiate such further action as deemed necessary and proper so that foreign nationals do not flee the course of justice after committing crimes in India".

Case Title: THE STATE OF JHARKHAND VERSUS ALEX DAVID @ M.U. HENRY & ANR., SLP(Crl) No(s). 8629/2022

Click here to read the order