India, July 2 -- The Delhi high court has held that a fugitive can apply for pre-arrest bail under the Indian law governing extradition.

Justice Sanjeev Narula underscored that even though the Indian Extradition Act, has been implemented by the legislature to give effect to India's international obligations in criminal justice cooperation, it does not prohibit the grant of pre-arrest bail.

"The Extradition Act contains no express bar excluding the applicability of the Cr.P.C. To read such a prohibition into the statute would amount to judicially engrafting a limitation that the Legislature, in its wisdom, has chosen not to impose. Further, an Indian citizen who apprehends arrest in India for an alleged offence committed abroad is not st...