Subash Kapoor
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. 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.
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. The extradition was governed by a treaty between India and Germany. 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
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.