Man awaits extradition on wife’s complaint

NEW DELHI, April 29: HE was neither a bank robber nor the kingpin of a narcotic ring. But Darshan Kumar is being treated like one. The 50-ye...

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NEW DELHI, April 29: HE was neither a bank robber nor the kingpin of a narcotic ring. But Darshan Kumar is being treated like one. The 50-year old Indian national, who ran a business in Canada, is locked up in Tihar jail for over two years without proper legal aid to defend himself.

In a rather strange case, Kumar had been nabbed from a Delhi hotel in early ’96 on a complaint from his wife, Bimla Batra, a Canadian citizen. According to her affidavit Kumar had taken her jewellery and a loan of Can $ 95,928.59 (Rs 25 lakh) from her. He did not return to Montreal, where they lived, as per schedule which made her suspicious.

Batra brought charges of cheating and defrauding against Kumar and set the Canadian police on his trail. After two long years in Tihar Jail, Kumar is now being extradited to Canada on an order passed by the Government of India on May 16, 97. The Extradition Act, however, clearly states if an individual is not extradited within 60 days of apprehension, he should be discharged from jail. “The extradition order passed in Kumar’s case who is an Indian national, is violative of his Fundamental Rights under Article 14, 20, 21 and 22 of the Constitution. He is in the jail for over two years without any legal aid. The fundamental right of getting a lawyer of his choice has been denied him and so was the access to his money,” says human rights lawyer Ashok Agrwaal, who took up Kumar’s case a few months back.

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It was the Delhi-based AIDS Awareness Group (AAG) which got Agrwaal to represent Kumar’s case as part of their free legal aid programme in the Tihar jail. Says Siddharth Vatsyayan, of the AAG legal aid cell, “He’s come to the country of his origin and is locked up in jail on the basis of a complaint which is yet to be substantiated. If this is how he is treated in his own country what hope has he in Canada where he is an alien?”

Kumar, who has considerable property and land in Punjab, claims that the charges brought against him are a part of well-planned scheme of defrauding him and depriving him of all his wealth by his wife, who he claims is acting in cahoots with her business partner Surinder Kapoor. But Kumar is prepared to undergo trial in any court in India.

Says Vatsyayan: “The wife grew cold feet in two months, whereas the loan period as stated in Batra’s affidavit was for a five-month term. She brought the charges without giving him a chance to repay the loan which is strange. And the government is extraditing him on these charges and treating him like some dreaded criminal.”

Lawyer Agrwaal also tried to contact Batra in Canada through a Human Rights group in Montreal. But she could not be located. “Even the International Directory Inquiry could not produce her number.”

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Unfortunately, Kumar’s plea was overruled by the Delhi High Court and then the Supreme Court. The AAG with Agrwaal’s help has filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court against the order passed on May ’97 by the Government of India under Section 8 of the Indian Extradition Act. This last ditch attempt to stop the extradition was suggested by the National Human Rights Commission.