French woman held under 1897 treaty sues India
NEW DELHI: A 62-year-old French citizen’s fight to get compensation from India for illegally detaining her for more than a year during a pilgrimage to Buddhist sites in the country has been backed by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions.
The international human rights body confirmed that on February 16, India sent its response to the charge of violating international human rights law and other rights codified in the 2015 minimum standards of treatment of prisoners, also known as the Mandela Rules.
“The Government’s reply is not made public due to its confidential nature,” the UN body said on its website.
The story of how Marie-Emanuelle Verhoeven, who earlier served as a UN prison officer in Chile, ended up spending 17 months in 2015-16 in Tihar Jail is dramatic. She was imprisoned in India on a Red Corner notice issued by Chilean authorities and extradition proceedings were started against her, which she contested.
Although the Chilean government accepted there was no extradition treaty between the two countries, India invoked an 1897 agreement between Britain and Chile, and the fact that India was a British colony at the time, to justify the extradition proceedings.
The Delhi high court eventually dismissed two cases of extradition against her and Verhoeven returned to France in July 2017.
But she hasn’t forgotten the trauma of being beaten up in Tihar by another inmate, not being allowed to speak to her family properly when her father died, and being denied medical attention. She also hasn’t forgotten that the state delayed her release (according to her), even after being discharged.
“I still don’t understand why it all happened. There was no case, there was absolutely nothing and my country France was with me. Why did they jail me for so long? I still cannot sleep thinking about it,’’ said Verhoeven. “I love India and it was my second home due to its spirituality, but why did they have to treat me like this on a bogus charge?’’
The ministry of external affairs said it had nothing to share on this case at the moment.
Now living in France with her family, Verhoeven was in Chile from 1985 to 1995, and joined the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean in 1987 in Santiago. Her work in human rights included being an officer of prison administration, and according to her lawyer Ramni Taneja, that’s where she came in contact with inmates who were accused of the 1991 assassination of senator Jaime Guzman Errazuriz.
There was no warrant or proceedings when she went back to France, but Chilean authorities said new information emerged in 2010 about her involvement in the case, after which a Red Corner notice was issued against her in January 2014.
Verhoeven was first detained in Hamburg, Germany, in the same month, but five months later, a German court ruled that the detention was unlawful. While her lawyers worked to quash the notice, she travelled to India to visit Buddhist sites, as she had done in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
But this time around, she was detained on February 16, 2015, and the Indian system proved much more traumatic.
Just like the German court, the Delhi high court on September 21 that year called her detention illegal. However, instead of instantly releasing her, authorities issued a fresh warrant and a new extradition proceeding started.
Questioning the need for that, the UN working group has asked India: “Please provide a precise explanation as to why..in spite of that (court decision), the authorities in Tihar Jail did not release her.”
“They made up some story when I went to get her. And then, to our shock, we realized that they had started a fresh proceeding. My client was traumatised,’’ said Taneja.
The second extradition proceeding continued till July 2, 2016, when she was finally granted bail before the government dropped the extradition proceedings.
“During the first four months of her arbitrary detention at Tihar Jail (from February 2015 till May 2015), Verhoeven was deprived of the right to communicate with the embassy of France, as the French embassy was not granted permission by the government of India to meet her,’’ said Taneja.
Throughout her detention, Verhoeven wrote letters documenting her ordeal — threats by jail officials, an assault by another inmate, and lack of proper medical care.
French diplomats at the time pursued the case diligently with Indian authorities. In a 2016 diplomatic note, which has been seen by HT, they requested India to accept her request for bail. In another communication, they expressed concern about Verhoeven going on a hunger strike in prison.
The French embassy in Delhi did not comment on the matter till press time.
Even after returning to France, Voerhoeven couldn’t get over the entire experience. So in 2018, her lawyers moved the UN and also a petition in Delhi high court for compensation.
As part of her legal fight, they submitted 10,000 pages of evidence sent to the UN, and with the recent order, her stand seems to be vindicated.
“I don’t want what happened to me to happen to anyone else, and that’s why I’m doing this,’’ Voerhoeven said.
Now that a favourable order has come from the UN, she is hoping that the Delhi high court also gives adequate compensation at the hearing next month.