Kulvir Singh Barapind v. Jerry J. Enomoto, United States Marshal for the Eastern District of California

I

OVERVIEW

India requests the extradition of Kulvir Singh Barapind (“Barapind”) in order to try him for crimes arising out of eleven (11) separate incidents in 1991 and 1992, specifically the crimes of murder, attempted murder, and robbery. The United States District Court for the Eastern District of California certified the request and approved Barapind’s extradition with respect to crimes tied to only three of the eleven incidents. The court determined that supporting probable cause had not been established for allegations regarding three of the other incidents, and that the “political offense” exception, articulated in Article VI of the relevant treaty, barred extradition on the remaining five.

Barapind challenged the court’s decision to surrender him to India by petitioning for a writ of habeas corpus. His petition, which was heard by the same judge, attacked the probity, reliability, and competence of the evidence relied upon by the court to find probable cause to extradite, and it raised the “political offense” doctrine as a legal bar to the requisition for his surrender on the charges on which he was found extraditable. Barapind now appeals the district court’s denial of…