Asylum Stops Where Extradition Begins
The word Asylum is Latin and originates from the Greek word 'Asylia' which
means inviolable place. The term is applied to those cases where the territorial
State refuses to capitulate a person to the requesting state and provides
accommodation and protection in its own territory.
Therefore asylum involves two components, firstly, a shelter which is more than
short-term protection; and secondly, a level of active protection on the part of
the authorities having power over the territory of asylum.
Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes the right of
people to ask for protection from prosecutions of the sovereign authorities.
Anyone can go to a different country and seek asylum. This right is also
accessible for refugees who have committed political crimes. . But this is
provided on the condition that if your crime violates UN principles, then you
are not entitled to seek asylum.
When there is a terror that the requesting States shall behave in a ruthless way
with the surrendered person against the rules of the Civil Society, asylum is
allowed by a territorial state.
The asylum is a political action and is connected with the characteristics of
sovereignty. A supreme state is free to allow asylum to a person and it is
always hidden with some political purpose. But sometimes it is extended for the
maintenance of democratic norms, peace, human rights, and serving of some
greater social purpose of the society as a whole.
Example - Dalai Lama's Asylum
India in the year 1959 gave territorial asylum to the Dalai Lama and his
followers who were oppressed by the repressive policies of China.
The word extradition is derived from the two Latin words ex and traditum. In
general, it could mean 'criminal delivery or 'refugee surrender'.Extradition can
sometimes be defined as the surrender of an accused or a convicted person who is
found in his or her territory in the State on whose territory he is charged to
have committed or to have been convicted of a criminal offense.
In extradition two states are involved i.e.
Territorial state -a State where an accused is found.
Requesting State- a State where the crime has been committed.
A state which insists the surrender is known as requesting a State because a
person is surrendered by the territorial State only upon a call by another
state. A request is made usually via the diplomatic channel. The application for
extradition of a person differentiates extradition from other measures such as
expulsion and deportation where an unwanted person is forcibly removed.
The opposite of Asylum is Extradition whereby, the person taking shelter in
another state is arrested by the government agencies of that state and
surrendered to the requesting state. Extradition can be used as an obligation
and duty if the territorial state for the surrender of the person seeking Asylum
if there exists a treaty for the same between the territorial state and
requesting state or there is a common treaty or convention where both the states
happen to be a signatory.
Extradition is the method of bringing back a criminal to the state where he has
committed the crime when he has escaped from such a country.
Generally, each country has its own laws in respect of the process of
extradition. In India, The Extradition Act of 1962 governs the process of
extradition. Requests for extradition on behalf of India can only be made by the
Ministry of External Affairs and not anyone in the public.
Example -Extradition of Vijay Mallya
Vijay Mallya, the owner of Co. Kingfisher took a loan of more than Rs. 9000
Crores and fled to the U.K. on March 2, 2016. The government of India decided to
seek extradition of him from the U.K. on February 2017, India made a formal
request for extradition of Mallya as per the extradition treaty. As a first
step, Vijay Mallya was arrested by Scotland Yard and was presented before the
U.K. court. This case is still pending in court as of now.
The authorization of a state to grant asylum to a person overlaps to a definite
extent with its freedom to refuse extradition of that person at the request of
some other state. The moment it is decided to extradite a person seeking shelter
or living secretly or having granted Asylum in the territorial state on the
request of Interpol or requesting state, the cover of Aslyum is broken and the
person is extradited that is handed over to the Government agencies of the
requesting state.
Starke has affirmed that asylum stops where extradition begins. Extradition and
Asylum are political acts of States and it differs from state to state depending
upon treaties, internal and external policies, and this interdependence makes it
suitable to consider the two subjects together.
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