LONDON: Defence middleman Sanjay Bhandari has won his appeal against extradition to India from London on the grounds that he would be at real 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 decision of district judge Snow at Westminster magistrates’ court to allow his extradition to India on six grounds. A hearing took place in Dec 2024, and on Friday high court judges Lord Justice Holroyde and Mrs Justice Steyn handed down judgment allowing his appeal on two of those grounds, namely that his extradition would be a breach of article 3 (torture or inhuman treatment) and a breach of article 6 (the right to a fair trial) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), making it unlawful. They discharged him.
The Indian govt has 14 days in which it can apply to get a point of law of general public importance certified by the high court and then apply for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court. But this is rarely granted.
Delhi was seeking to extradite Bhandari to face two charges: wilfully evading taxes by not declaring foreign assets and foreign income amounting to Rs 665 crore on his Indian tax return and money laundering.
His undisclosed foreign assets include 19 foreign bank accounts, six companies and four properties in London and Dubai, the charges state.
The judges dismissed an assurance from the Indian govt that Bhandari would only 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 pointed out that Tillu Tajpuriya was murdered by other prisoners in Tihar jail on May 2, 2023, and Ankit Gujjar was killed on the night of August 3-4, 2021 allegedly by top jail officials.
“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 also cited torture allegations made by British citizens 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 said.
Because Bhandari would have to prove the attempt to evade tax was not wilful, rather than prosecuting authorities having to prove it was wilful, they said this was a flagrant denial of his rights under article 6, as it “fundamentally destroys the fairness of the prospective trial”.