British HC allows Nirav Modi to appeal in extradition case

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London: A judge of the High Court in London on Monday held fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi to face charges of fraud and money laundering before Indian courts against a magisterial court order in favor of extradition to India for mental health and human rights. Appeal on grounds was allowed on Monday.

Judge Martin Chamberlain said the arguments presented by the 50-year-old diamond merchant’s legal team regarding his “severe depression” and “suicide risk” were debatable at the hearing. He said the adequacy of measures capable of preventing “successful suicide attempts” at Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai, where Nirav Modi is to be detained on extradition, also comes under debate.

Justice Chamberlain said in his order, “At this stage, the question for me is simply whether the appellant’s case is reasonably debatable on these grounds. In my judgment, it is. I will allow appeals on grounds 3 and 4. Bases three and four relate to Article three of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) or the right to life, liberty, and safety, and Section 91 of the UK Criminal Justice Act 2003, which deals with health.

The judge said, “I will not restrict the ground on which the argument can be made, although it seems to me that special consideration should be given to whether the judge made a mistake in arriving at his conclusion while he was not allowed by the appellant ( Nirav Modi) were given evidence of the severity of depression, the risk of suicide and the adequacy of any measure capable of preventing successful suicide attempts at Arthur Road Jail.

The permission to appeal on all other grounds was denied and the matter will now proceed for a concrete hearing before the High Court in London undergrounds three and four. Nirav’s lawyer, Edward Fitzgerald, argued during the July 21 hearing that District Judge Sam Goose erred in favoring his extradition in February.

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The judges came to the conclusion that Nirav’s severe depression was not unusual in view of his imprisonment and showed no tendency to commit suicide. Fitzgerald had said, “The District Judge erred in ruling that there was nothing abnormal in the mental state of the petitioner (Nirav) and that it was wrong to draw a conclusion based on his present condition.”

Helen Malcolm, counsel for the Crown Possession Service (CPS), on behalf of the Indian authorities, opposed the appeal, saying that there was no dispute over Nirav’s mental condition and that he had received assurances from the Indian government that he would be given proper medical care in Mumbai if needed. Will be

Justice Chamberlain, while delivering his judgment, noted that during the appeal hearing, Nirav Modi’s lawyer Anand Dubey had cited evidence such as the new wave of coronavirus in India that could affect the care available to him in prison. made the basis.

Significantly, Nirav Modi is to be tried in India on charges of money laundering and fraud in connection with the $2 billion scams involving Punjab National Bank (PNB).

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