Nirav Modi cites rats, insects in Mumbai jail to avoid extradition

 

India has provided sovereign assurances and details of the Barrack number 12 of Arthur Road jail in Mumbai, where diamantaire Nirav Modi facing extradition is to be lodged, as a British valuer of gems and jewellery deposed in his favour on the fourth day of his trial on Thursday.

Modi’s trial was adjourned until September 7 after valuer Richard Taylor answered queries from defence lawyer Claire Montgomery and prosecution lawyer Helen Malcolm on the diamond industry and the significance of Modi’s company.

Conditions in Indian jails have been one of the major objections highlighted in extradition cases in the UK. The issue was dealt with in exhaustive detail in the Vijay Mallya case, in which the Westminster Magistrates Court upheld India’s assurances and details submitted.

Similar objections have been raised by Modi’s defence team – including alleged presence of rats, insects, uncovered drains and noise from slums near the jail – as part of its contention that there is risk to his human rights in the Arthur Road jail.

UK courts are obliged to refuse extradition if there is a risk to the requested person’s human rights in the country that makes the extradition request.

As in the Mallya case, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) opposed Modi’s claims in its ‘skeleton argument’, stating that his submissions “fail to acknowledge the recent consideration of this issue in the Mallya proceedings” by judge Emma Arbuthnot of the magistrates court in her December 2018 judgement.

The CPS documents states: “In Mallya, the Senior District Judge was required to consider assurances offered by the GOI (government of India) in the same terms as those offered in this case. She conducted an exhaustive consideration of whether those assurance could be accepted…She concluded that they could be accepted”.