Diamantaire’s health: London HC allows Nirav Modi to appeal against extradition
New Delhi: A judge in the London High Court on Monday granted fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi the permission to appeal against a magistrates’ court order in favour of extradition to India to face charges of fraud and money laundering before the Indian courts.
The absconder wanted in the Rs. 10,000 crore scam, in which public sector Punjab National Bank (PNB) is embroiled, had sought to appeal on grounds of mental health and human rights.
In his remotely-delivered verdict due to the pandemic restrictions, Justice Martin Chamberlain said the arguments presented by the 50-year-old diamond merchant’s lawyers, concerning his severe depression and high risk of suicide, were arguable at a substantial hearing.
The adequacy of the measures capable of preventing successful suicide attempts at Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai, where the accused Nirav will be detained upon extradition, also fall within the arguable ambit, the judge said.
He granted Nirav permission on grounds relating to Article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), or the right to life, liberty, and security, and Section 91 of the UK’s Criminal Justice Act 2003 related to fitness to plead.
The judge noted that the arguments made under both grounds overlap in this case as they both rely principally on the appellant Nirav Modi’s mental ill-health.
“I will not restrict the basis on which those grounds can be argued, though it seems to me that there should be a particular focus on whether the judge was wrong to reach the conclusion he did, given the evidence as to the severity of the appellant’s (Nirav Modi’s) depression, the high risk of suicide and the adequacy of any measures capable of preventing successful suicide attempts in Arthur Road prison”, the court said.
(VP)
