Thieves at the Liquor Shop: A Case of Application of the Anglo-Bhutanese Extradition Agreement of 1910

In 1916, following two thefts committed by some British Indian subjects in Bhutanese territory, the question of how to treat the culprits arose. Some of them had, in fact, returned to the Raj, while two others had been arrested in the territory of the tiny Himalayan kingdom. The Bhutan Agent in Kalimpong, Ugyen Dorji, asked the Political Officer in Sikkim, Charles Alfred Bell, for the possibility of trying the two prisoners himself. Bell communicated the matter to the Secretary of the Government of India in the Foreign and Political Department, assuming the correctness of Ugyen Dorji’s behaviour. However, according to Bell, the Bhutanese Government did not have the possibility of obtaining the extradition of the fugitives to the territory of the Raj. After consultation with the Legislative Department, the Foreign and Political Department confirmed the correctness of Bell’s interpretation. Beyond the specific case, the story provides some interesting elements to attempt a better understanding of the nature of the relationship between the British Empire and Bhutan in the years following the signing of the Treaty of Punakha in 1910.