After the UK court recently turned down the extradition request for an Indian origin couple, the Indian government now has appealed to United Kingdom High Court for the same.
The couple is wanted for the murder of their adopted child.
The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which represents the Indian authorities in court extradition proceedings, said it will be seeking permission to appeal against the Westminster Magistrates’ Court order in the case involving Indian origin British citizen Arti Dhir and her husband Kaval Raijada, wanted in India for the murder of their adopted 11-year-old son Gopal and his brother-in-law.
An investigation by Gujarat police has claimed that the accused had hatched a plot to adopt Gopal and then insure him for around Rs. 1.3 crores before staging his kidnapping and murder in India and then split the life insurance payout.
“We have lodged an appeal on behalf of the Indian authorities. The appeal will be considered on the papers by a single judge, who will decide whether or not to grant leave,” a CPS spokesperson said.
An “on the papers” decision will involve a High Court judge determining the merits of India’s application and if it is accepted, the case will proceed to a “substantive hearing” in the next few months.
Last month, Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot had rejected India’s extradition request for Arti Dhir and Kaval Raijada on human rights grounds under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
“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,” noted Judge Arbuthnot.
Judge Arbuthnot, incidentally, is the same judge who had ordered the extradition of former Kingfisher Airlines chief Vijay Mallya. That case is undergoing a separate appeals process in the UK High Court, scheduled for a hearing in February next year.
In the murder case, the judge had found a “circumstantial prima facie case that Ms. Dhir and Mr. Raijada acting together and with others committed the offenses”.
However, the rigorous life sentences they would face in India if found guilty of the multiple murders resulted in the two accused being freed.
The Indian government had assured that the death penalty would not be relevant in their case and also some additional assurances, which came in later than the time frame specified by the court.
The judge had warned the accused that they could be hauled before the UK courts again if the legal framework in the state of Gujarat, where the killing took place over two years ago, were to allow a process of parole in a life sentence for multiple murder in accordance with the ECHR.
She had also pointed out “strong evidence” of money being sent from the London bank account linked with the accused to the man who organized the killing, which could mean the prospect of a prosecution being initiated in the UK.
Dhir and Raijada’s arrest is dated back to June 2017 on a provisional warrant in the United Kingdom and released on conditional bail coming after “substantial securities”.
According to details that came out in court, the murder allegations against the couple accompanying their adopted son Gopal Sejani and his brother-in-law Harsukhbhai Kardani in February 2017 in India.
