New Delhi (TIP) – An unidentified family member of Indian national Nikhil Gupta, who is accused in a US court of plotting an assassination attempt in New York, approached the Supreme Court on Friday alleging human rights violations but the apex court described the matter as an “extremely sensitive” for the Centre and refused to issue directions to the government.
The petition, filed by a member of Gupta’s family identified as “Mr X”, alleged that he was not shown any arrest warrant, subjected to forced consumption of beef and pork during his detention in Czech custody in violation of his religious beliefs as a Hindu vegetarian, denied consular access, the right to contact his family in India, and the freedom to seek legal representation. The plea sought the Centre’s intervention in the extradition proceedings pending before the Extradition Court in Prague, Czech Republic. The court refused to step in but agreed to examine a petition seeking consular access and legal assistance on January 4.
“This is an extremely sensitive matter for the ministry to come in,” a bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti told senior advocate CA Sundaram, who represented Mr X. “We won’t direct the government [of India]. You are capable of taking care of yourself. You have already been supplied with the necessary documents and papers,” the bench added.
Sundaram argued that the case had turned into a “diplomatic and political quagmire” between India and the US. “He (Gupta) is a hapless victim caught in the crossfire,” he said, adding that Gupta’s family was not aware of his whereabouts, there was no lawyer or translator to help him get a fair trial and that he had exhausted his financial resources fighting proceedings against him in courts under US and Czech jurisdictions.
To be sure, it remains unclear whether Gupta, who was arrested on June 30, is still in the Czech Republic or has already been extradited to the US.
The top court also expressed doubts about looking into the plea. “The person detained has not given his own affidavit. He cannot have given it. As a next friend, you have filed this petition. If there is any violation of law, you have to go to the concerned court there. We are not going to have an adjudication here. Go there and appear.”
To this, Sundaram said, “I fully understand that he has to approach the concerned court but let the ministry of external affairs see if it can assist him.”
US prosecutors have alleged that Nikhil Gupta, alias Nick, worked on the directions of an Indian government employee, who described himself as a “senior field officer” responsible for intelligence, to arrange the assassination of US-Canadian citizen Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a senior leader of the outlawed Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) who has been declared a terrorist by India.