MADURAI: Subash Chandra Kapoor, a convicted mastermind of multiple idol thefts in India, may soon fly back to Germany, from where he was extradited 14 years ago.Madras high court on Tuesday directed Union govt to take custody of Kapoor from the Trichy central prison and proceed in accordance with law for returning him to Germany.Kapoor, 77, is a US citizen who was brought to India in 2012 in a case of antique idol theft and smuggling registered by Udayarpalayam police in Ariyalur district. The extradition was governed by a treaty between India and Germany.India had provided a solemn undertaking to Germany that he will not be punished, limited in his personal freedom or be prosecuted by measures that could also be taken in his absence, in India without the consent of Germany for any reason existing before his transfer, except for the deeds that give reason for the request for extradition.In 2022, a Kumbakonam judicial magistrate court convicted him and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for 10 years. Incidentally, by then he had spent almost 10 years in prison. According to a custody certificate issued in 2024 by the superintendent of Trichy Central Prison, the date of release for his conviction was Feb 2023, implying that he had already served out his sentence for the extradited offence.Subash Kapoor then filed the present habeas corpus petition seeking his immediate release on the ground that his continued detention was illegal.Allowing his extradition back to Germany, a division bench of Justice A D Jagadish Chandira and Justice N Gunasekaran observed on Tuesday that Section 21 of the Extradition Act, 1962, embodied the Rule of Specialty. A person surrendered or returned by a foreign state cannot, subject to the exceptions contained therein, be tried in India for an offence other than the extradition offence or an offence in respect of which the foreign State has not given its consent.Further, the Rule of Specialty has a further and express dimension under Article 19 of the Extradition Treaty. Article 19 provides that a person extradited under the Extradition Treaty shall not, in the requesting state, be ‘detained or tried, or be subjected to any other restriction of his personal liberty’ for an offence committed prior to extradition, except in the circumstances recognized by the Extradition Treaty, the judges observed.Conceding that the other cases pending against Subash Kapoor were of grave and serious nature involving theft of invaluable antique idols from temples across the country which are of national heritage, the judges said: “However, it requires to be borne in mind that the gravity or heinous nature of an alleged offence cannot, by itself, create a legal authority for detention where the rule of specialty otherwise requires the consent of the requested State. The rule of law does not operate differently according to the gravity of the accusation. If the consent of the requested State is a condition for subjecting an extradited person to detention, trial or any other restriction of personal liberty in respect of a pre-extradition offence, the seriousness of that offence cannot substitute for the consent required by the statute and the Treaty.”The bench then held that the petitioner’s continued detention was without authority of law and could not be sustained. It directed the Union ministry of home affairs to take custody Subash Kapoor from Trichy Central Prison within two weeks and proceed in accordance with law for returning him to Germany
