Agreement to improve Oman-India cooperation on terror

A legal and judicial assistance agreement signed recently between Oman and India will improve cooperation in the field of investigation, prosecution and proceedings in criminal matters, a media report said Tuesday.

"The agreement will improve the effectiveness of both countries in investigations, prosecutions and suppression of crime, including crimes related to terrorism and tracing, restraint, forfeiture or confiscation of proceeds and instruments of crime through cooperation and mutual legal assistance in criminal matters," Times of Oman quoted Deepa Sudhir, a legal expert here, as saying.

According to the Indian embassy in Oman, there were 115 Indian nationals lodged in Omani jails in November 2014, the report said.

The agreement will enable India and Oman to make the detained people testify or assist in investigations and cooperate in probing terror funding.

"Both Oman and India can now take steps as permitted by law for search, seizure and confiscation of such funds and the prosecution of the individual concerned," the legal adviser said.

Even though the requests for assistance pursuant to the provisions of this agreement should be submitted in writing, it also provides an option to make requests verbally in urgent conditions if the requested state accepts that which will subsequently be confirmed in writing.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Oman's Minister of Commerce and Industry Ali Bin Masoud Al Sunaidy signed the agreement on legal and judicial cooperation in criminal matters between the two countries in October last year.

The agreement provides for substantial engagement in the areas of pursuing and eliminating transnational crimes and terrorism in its different forms.