UK not to extradite Tiger Hanif to India

London, May 18: India’s request for the extradition of Tiger Hanif, an alleged aide of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim wanted in India in connection with two bomb blasts in Surat in 1993, has been turned down by the UK government, official sources have confirmed.

Hanif, whose full name is Mohammed Hanif Umerji Patel, was traced to a grocery store in Bolton, Greater Manchester, and arrested by Scotland Yard on an extradition warrant in February 2010. The 57-year-old since lost a number of legal bids to stay in Britain, claiming that he will be tortured in India. However, his final bid to then Home Secretary Sajid Javid succeeded as the Pakistani-origin minister refused the request last year.

“We can confirm that the extradition request for Hanif Patel was refused by the then Home Secretary and Mr Patel was discharged by the court in August 2019,” a UK Home Office source said on Sunday. Hanif ’s extradition to India was first ordered by then Home Secretary Theresa May in June 2012.

During an appeal at the High Court in London in April 2013, Justice Kenneth Parker noted the information provided in India’s request described how, following the Babri Masjid

demolition in December 1992, “internecine hostilities” broke out between the Muslim and Hindu communities in Gujarat.

“The requesting state’s case is that the appellant was part of a Muslim group which obtained explosives, guns and other weapons and then carried out revenge terrorist attacks on the Hindu community, including two explosions which resulted in loss of life, injury and damage,” the judge noted. The first explosion was in January 1993 in a market on Varacha Road in Surat, which killed an eight-year-old girl and the second explosion was in April 1993 at Surat railway station. Arguments on behalf of Hanif claimed there was “a real risk of torture” if he was extradited to India.

“There is nothing to suggest that the appellant (Hanif) is now no longer able to recall the events in question, or that the court in India would be unwilling or unable to consider the extent, if any, of any prejudice to the fairness of the criminal trial by reason of the passage of time,” the judge ruled, clearing his extradition. Under the India-UK Extradition Treaty, India is category two country, which means the Home Secretary has final sign-off on any extradition request.