India, Italy to sign extradition treaty amid improving bilateral ties

India and Italy are set to sign an extradition treaty as the two countries seek to repair their bilateral relations that were waylaid by the 2012 killing of two Indian fishermen by Italian marines.

The extradition treaty will make it easier for both countries to counter crime and improve cooperation between their law enforcement agencies, said people aware of the developments.

The final text of the extradition treaty has been approved by the MEA and the ministry of home affairs, with the law ministry examining it for the Union cabinet’s approval, these people said.

The treaty is significant as the two countries only have a limited extradition arrangement despite India’s large diaspora in Italy. In 2018, Italy had refused to extradite businessman Carlo Gerosa, implicated in the AgustaWestland chopper scandal, to India. 

The lack of an extradition treaty between the two countries was cited as the reason for not extraditing Gerosa, according to reports.

India’s present extradition arrangement with Italy only covers crimes such as trafficking in narcotics and psychotropic substances as both countries are party to the 1988 UN convention against trafficking in these substances, according to India’s ministry of external affairs.

The Italian embassy and India’s ministries of external affairs, home affairs, and law and justice did not immediately reply to emailed queries on the extradition treaty.

According to data from the ministry of external affairs, India has extradition agreements with 48 countries, including the US, the UK, Russia, France and Germany. The oldest extradition agreement was signed with Switzerland in 1880.

The Extradition Act of 1962 governs the framework for India’s extradition treaties. These treaties include provisions for how extradition requests can be made, whether Indian nationals can be extradited, and grounds for refusal of these requests.

The AgustaWestland scandal surfaced in 2013 as investigations began into allegations of bribery involving senior officials and politicians in the purchase of the company’s helicopters for VVIP duties. Indian investigators had sought to extradite Gerosa, seen as a key middleman in the dealings, but were denied access.

Earlier in 2012, India arrested two Italian marines who were aboard a commercial oil tanker for fatally shooting two Indian fishermen off Kerala’s coast, with subsequent events escalating tensions between the two countries.

In recent years, India and Italy have worked to repair their bilateral ties. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visited India in early 2023 and for the G20 Leaders Summit in September. The two countries have also signed a defence agreement, while India’s cabinet approved a Migration and Mobility Agreement in December.

Italy is home to the second-largest population of overseas Indians in continental Europe. As per MEA data, Italy is home to 203,052 overseas Indians, with 157,695 non-resident Indians in the country. The migration of Indians from Punjab to work in Italy’s dairy sector over the last few decades has led to a large increase in this figure.