Canadian authorities goofed up: Punjab cops on extradition stay
A goof-up by Canadian authorities resulted in a last-minute stay on the extradition of the two accused in the Jaswinder Kaur Jassi murder case, say Punjab Police. A three-member Punjab Police team, led by IPS officer and Patiala SP (investigations) Kanwarpal Kaur, returned empty-handed from Canada on Monday.
A senior official, involved in the process, told HT that one of the conditions in the September 8 Canadian Supreme Court order was that before extraditing Jassi’s mother Malkiat Kaur and maternal uncle Surjit Singh Badish, the local authorities will have to inform their lawyer.
The accused, who belong to the family of millionaire blue berry orchard owners, are residents of Maple Creek in British Columbia. They are in custody of Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) since 2012.
“When a brother of the accused went to meet them in a jail in Vancouver on September 19, he found that the duo had been handed over to Punjab Police. As the lawyer of the accused wasn’t taken into the loop by the Canadian authorities, an appeal against extradition was filed following which the British Columbia Court of Appeal stayed the process citing it as violation of the highest court’s orders,” said the police officer. He added that no next date has been fixed by the court .
The Punjab Police team had reached the Toronto airport after taking the custody of the accused when they were informed about court orders.
“It’s a goof-up by Canadian authorities who may or may have not read the judgment of the Supreme Court. Our team was not aware about any such clause,” the officer said.
Kaur and Badesha, mother and maternal uncle of Jassi, are wanted in a June 2000 case at Amargarh police station in Sangrur for killing Canadian resident Jassi, who married her lover Sukhwinder Singh Mithu from Kaunke village near Jagraon .
As per Punjab Police charges, both Kaur and Badesha hired contract killers . While a Sangrur court had awarded life imprisonment to the eight accused in 2005, Kaur and Badesha could not be put on trial. Punjab Police are pursuing extradition since 2000.