NEW DELHI: The deputy chief crown prosecutor who oversees extraditions from the UK has advised India to provide sovereign guarantee that any accused being sought to be extradited to New Delhi will not be kept in Tihar Jail, or subjected to torture and inhuman treatment in prison, reports Pradeep Thakur.
The advice comes after two back-to-back rejections of extradition requests by UK courts, the last one on Apr 11 of Virkiran Awasty and his wife Ritika who are wanted in India in connection with an alleged Rs 750 crore bank fraud case. On Feb 27, the UK high court had rejected alleged arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari’s extradition while also refusing India permission to appeal in UK Supreme Court against its verdict.
“…The Bhandari ruling will likewise affect other cases we are conducting which involve detention in Tihar Jail, namely the (Awasty) ‘Hassad Fraud’ case…” the prosecutor said in a communication to the Indian govt.
Subject to what I set out below, all these cases will inevitably fail and further legal activity on them is futile,” the deputy chief crown prosecutor wrote.
The prosecutor, who is supposed to help India with its extradition requests, told the govt it has to immediately assure UK courts in writing that no accused will run afoul of Article 3 of ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights), which prohibits torture and inhuman treatment of prisoners. In rejecting Bhandari’s extradition, the court had concluded “a real risk of Article 3 mistreatment in Tihar Jail and a generalised risk of torture during interrogation”.
The deputy chief crown prosecutor said that pending an assurance, “there is no prospect of a successful appeal in this case”, referring to the rejection of the Awastys’ extradition plea and further prospects of rejection of an appeal before higher courts in the UK.
“I have to stress in the strongest possible terms that the only prospect left to us to salvage the case against Mr and Mrs Awasty is the urgent provision of an unequivocal assurance from the GoI. This has been discussed in various and repeated advice and conferences but has so far not been forthcoming,” the deputy chief crown prosecutor said.
The assurance pertains to the govt giving an undertaking that the accused “will not be detained in Tihar Jail, either on remand or if and when convicted; if they are to be detained on remand or upon conviction, then the detention conditions will comply with Article 3”.
The deputy chief crown prosecutor said if govt failed to give these undertakings, it would “not pursue any appeal” not only in the Awasty case but also in others even if there was merit in filing an appeal.
A senior district judge at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London had on April 11 discharged the case of Awasty “on the grounds that, firstly and because he could not be satisfied Awasty’s Art 3 ECHR rights would not be violated in the event he was detained in Tihar Jail”. The other reason cited by the judge was “insufficient evidence for a prima facie case and for abuse of process based on the two-year delay in submitting the case following its earlier discharge”.
The Crown Prosecution Service said it was ready to appeal against the verdict but as per existing conditions, it was difficult to assure a favourable outcome.
“As far as the Article 3 grounds are concerned, based on the papers and the latest correspondence we have received from the govt of India, I advise now that there is no prospect of a successful appeal in this case. Further, if that remains the case, the Crown Prosecution Service will not be able to lodge the necessary grounds of appeal to sustain the appeal and accordingly Awasty will be discharged, bringing the case to an end,” it said.