Canada court stays extradition of honour killing case accused
The extradition of the mother and uncle of a 25-year-old woman, who was murdered in 2000 in an alleged case of “honour killing”, was stayed after their lawyer moved a court in Canada’s British Columbia challenging their surrender by Canadian authorities to a team of Punjab police to stand trial in India.
Michael Klein, who filed the application before the court, told Hindustan Times that they had sought a “judicial review” of the decision to extradite Jaswinder Jassi Sidhu’s mother Malkiat Kaur Sidhu and uncle Surjit Singh Badesha. Klein has also sought a review of the Canadian justice minister’s support for the extradition.
“The surrender cannot go forward,” Klein said, referring to the handing over of the pair to the Indian authorities.
A three-member police team was expected to take custody of Malkiat Kaur and Surjit Singh on Wednesday and return to India with the two in the evening.
Jaswinder, a resident of Maple Ridge in British Columbia, married a man her family did not approve of and that summer, she was murdered in Punjab in what was an alleged contract killing at the behest of her family, including the two accused that the Indian authorities seek to take back to stand trial in India.
He said the application filed on Wednesday was based on “new information that has come to light” though he refused to divulge details about the nature of the information.
While the Supreme Court of Canada ruled recently in favour of the extradition going ahead, Klein said that in approaching the BC court of appeal, they were “in new territory.”
The Punjab police team, led by Indian Police Service officer Kanwardeep Kaur, is expected to remain in Vancouver while the court rules on the application. The hearing is expected on Thursday. Jaswinder reportedly flew from Canada to India to reunite with her husband, Mithu Sidhu, after revealing her marriage to her family.