Jassi case: No extradition yet, cops to return today

Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 23

The Punjab Police team that had gone to Canada to bring two alleged plotters in the Jassi honour killing case is scheduled to return empty-handed tomorrow following the stay on their extradition.

The Canadian Department of Justice has not specified how long it will take to decide the review petition filed before it to reconsider the extradition of Jassi’s mother Malkiat Kaur and uncle Surjit Badesha. The team comprising Kanwardeep Kaur, SP, Headquarters, Patiala; Akashdeep Singh Aulakh, Dhuri DSP; and Inspector Deepinder Pal Singh; has booked a flight to India.

Jassi’s husband Sukhwinder Singh Mithu, who has been waiting for the past 17 years to see the duo face trial in India, was disappointed at the development. “It seems the Canadian Government prefers providing a safe haven to alleged criminals. If they are innocent, as they claim, they should have faced trial long ago,” he said.

Mithu, a resident of Kaunke Khosa in Jagraon, said the Punjab Police seemed to be doing their best to pursue the case, but other authorities were blocking the extradition. “I request the Punjabi community in Canada to help get the stay vacated by sending petitions to the Department of Justice,” he added.

Mithu said he had languished in jail for over three years and was still an undertrial in some cases. “See the power of the accused, who even managed to get the extradition stalled at the last minute. I am very upset with the Canadian Government.”

The extradition was scheduled to take place on Friday, days after the Supreme Court of Canada allowed it. However, the accused moved the Department of Justice that imposed a stay. Jassi, a Canadian national, and Mithu were attacked near Malerkotla on June 8, 2000, by killers allegedly hired by Jassi’s mother and uncle.