Canada top court allows extradition of mother, uncle in Punjab honour killing
TORONTO The Supreme Court of Canada ruled on Friday that two Punjab-origin Canadians could be extradited to India for their alleged role in what has been described as an “honour killing” more than 17 years ago.
The ruling from the top court, delivered in Ottawa, was unanimous and based on assurances from the Canadian government that the two would not be tortured while in India for their trial.
According to reports in the Canadian media, 25-year-old Jaswinder Sidhu ‘Jassi’, a resident of Maple Ridge in the province of British Columbia, had eloped with a man from a “lower caste” autorickshaw driver in Punjab and was later killed in June 2000 by a group of men, who slit her throat and also severely injured her husband Sukhwinder Singh alias Mithu.
Canada-born Jassi had met Mithu in Jagraon during her visit to native Punjab in 1996 and fallen in love with him. The two secretly married in 1999 when she came back from Canada to tie the knot.
In May 2014, the Supreme Court of British Columbia ordered Sidhu’s mother Malkiat Kaur Sidhu and uncle Surjit Singh Badesha to be extradited to India to face charges relating to the case. Later, however, the British Columbia court of appeal had blocked their extradition.
According to the Globe & Mail daily, the apex court, in its ruling, noted that “diplomatic assurances need not eliminate any possibility of torture or mistreatment; they must simply form a reasonable basis for the minister’s finding that there is no substantial risk of torture or mistreatment”. The Vancouver Sun reported that Indian authorities have charged the two with conspiracy to commit murder.