Sanjay Bhandari wins appeal against extradition to India over risk of mistreatment at Tihar jail

LONDON: Defence intermediary Sanjay Bhandari has gained his appeal against extradition to India from London on the grounds that he can be at actual risk of extortion, torture or violence in Tihar jail and at risk of a flagrant denial of justice at trial.
Bhandari had appealed the Nov 7, 2022 determination of district choose Snow at Westminster magistrates’ courtroom to enable his extradition to India on six grounds. A listening to passed off in Dec 2024, and on Friday excessive courtroom judges Lord Justice Holroyde and Mrs Justice Steyn handed down judgment permitting his appeal on two of these grounds, specifically that his extradition can be a breach of article 3 (torture or inhuman therapy) and a breach of article 6 (the best to a good trial) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), making it illegal. They discharged him.
The Indian govt has 14 days wherein it could apply to get a degree of regulation of common public significance licensed by the excessive courtroom after which apply for go away to appeal to the Supreme Court. But that is hardly ever granted.
Delhi was searching for to extradite Bhandari to face two expenses: wilfully evading taxes by not declaring overseas belongings and overseas earnings amounting to Rs 665 crore on his Indian tax return and cash laundering.
His undisclosed overseas belongings embody 19 overseas financial institution accounts, six firms and 4 properties in London and Dubai, the fees state.
The judges dismissed an assurance from the Indian govt that Bhandari would solely be interrogated in Tihar jail, saying that Bhandari would “ be at real risk of extortion, accompanied by threatened or actual violence, from other prisoners and/or prison officials. The nature of the allegations against him, and the publicity in relation to them in India, are such that he would be perceived to be a very rich man and therefore a prime target for extortion. In view of the extreme overcrowding and very significant level of understaffing in Tihar prison, it would be very difficult for even the most conscientious of prison officials to protect him from extortion and mistreatment at the hands of other prisoners, including gang members. Add to that the compelling evidence that incidents of prison officials, including senior officials, taking bribes, engaging in, and facilitating, extortion, occur all too commonly, it is clear that he would face a real risk of proscribed treatment.”
They identified that Tillu Tajpuriya was murdered by different prisoners in Tihar jail on May 2, 2023, and Ankit Gujjar was killed on the night time of August 3-4, 2021 allegedly by prime jail officers.
“The evidence is that the use of proscribed treatment to obtain confessions is commonplace and endemic,” the judges wrote. They blamed this on the “lack of will to stamp out the use of torture, reflected in the failure to ratify the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.”
They additionally cited torture allegations made by British residents Jagtar Singh Johal and Christian Michel. “It is apparent that the acceptance in India of torture or other serious mistreatment as a method of evidence-gathering extends beyond the police and investigating bodies, such that it is unlikely that Bhandari could look to prison officials for protection from the organisations that are engaged in investigating him,” they mentioned.
Because Bhandari would have to show the try to evade tax was not wilful, somewhat than prosecuting authorities having to show it was wilful, they mentioned this was a flagrant denial of his rights below article 6, because it “fundamentally destroys the fairness of the prospective trial”.