india

Updated: Jul 07, 2019 22:39 IST

Even as embattled liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya was granted permission to appeal against his extradition order in the UK high court, India suffered another setback as its extradition request in a murder case was turned down by a court here.

On July 2, Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot of Westminster Magistrates’ Court handed down her judgment in a case involving an Indian-origin British citizen Arti Dhir and her husband Kaval Raijada, wanted in India for the murder of their adopted 11-year-old boy Gopal and his brother-in-law.

Judge Arbuthnot, incidentally the same judge who had found a prima facie case against Mallya in her ruling in favour of extradition in December 2018, “discharged” Dhir and Raijada on human rights grounds under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

“In the light of my finding that Ms Dhir and Mr Raijada if extradited will be subject to an irreducible sentence, I find there are substantial grounds for believing that they would face a real risk of being subjected to treatment, a lack of review of a life sentence, which would be inhuman and degrading. This would be a breach of Article 3,” notes Arbuthnot in her ruling.

The judge did find that “there is a circumstantial prima facie case that Ms Dhir and Mr Raijada acting together and with others committed the offences”.

The Indian government had provided an assurance that the death penalty would not apply in their case and also some additional assurances, which came in later than the time-frame stipulated by the court.

Judge Arbuthnot warns in her ruling: “Ms Dhir and Mr Raijada should be aware of the following, that it is possible that one of two things may happen. The first is that the State of Gujarat may change the law to ensure that a review of a life sentence for multiple murder which would be in accordance with Article 3 principles may take place. If that were the case the life sentence would no longer be irreducible. The matter would come back to this court...The second is that... There is strong evidence of money being sent from the defendants’ London bank account to the man who organised the killing... This evidence means it is not impossible for a prosecution to be initiated here”.

The case dates back to June 2017. According to details that emerged in court, the murder allegations against the duo are related to their adopted son Gopal Sejani and his brother-in-law Harsukhbhai Kardani in February 2017 in India.