The Supreme Court today asked the Centre to consider formulating an appropriate policy to prevent foreign nationals accused of crimes in India from absconding from the country. The issue arose when a Nigerian national, accused in a high-profile criminal case, allegedly absconded to his home country after being granted bail by the Jharkhand High Court in May 2022. The top court, in December last year, had set aside the bail order, directing the authorities to ensure the accused is brought back to India to face trial.

At the same time, it underscored the need to do something more as these cases keep coming up and therefore, a proper set of guidelines has to be framed and distributed to all the Courts concerned so that such incidents do not happen in future. In the latest hearing, a Bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih was informed by Additional Solicitor General Raj Kumar Bhaskar Thakre, appearing on the Centre’s behalf, that extradition was unlikely due to the absence of a bilateral treaty with Nigeria.