Jassi case: Punjab Police team to return tomorrow as extradition fails

Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 23

The hopes of extradition of the two alleged conspirators of the Jassi honour killing were dashed to the ground with the three-member Punjab Police team which had gone to Canada to bringing back the accused scheduled to return empty-handed on Sunday.

The team is returning as the Canadian Department of Justice has not provided a clear roadmap on how long it will take to decide the review petition filed before it to reconsider the extradition of the two accused--Malkiat Kaur and Surjit Badesha--mother and uncle respectively, of Jassi.

The team comprising Kanwardeep Kaur, SP, Headquartes, Patiala; Akashdeep Singh Aulakh, DSP, Dhuri; and Inspector Deepinder Pal Singh; have booked a flight to India for Sunday. They have sent a communication confirming the flight. The team has informed that the Justice department has not divulged the next date of hearing to them.

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Jassi’s husband Sukhwinder Singh Mithu of Kaunke Khosa in Jagraon, who is waiting for the past 17 years to see the two accused face trial in India was disappointed at the turn of events. “It seems the Canadian government prefers providing safe haven to alleged criminals. If they are innocent, as they claim, they should have faced trial long ago.”

Mithu said though Punjab Police seem to be doing their best to pursue the case, other powers may be blocking it.

“I request to the Punjabi community in Canada to help in clearing the blockade by sending petitions to the Canada Department of Justice for sending the accused to India.”

He said he had languished in jail for over three years and was still under-trial in some cases as he was fighting for justice. “See the power of the accused, who even managed to get extradition stalled at the last minute. I am very disappointed with the Canadian government.”

The extradition was set to happen on Friday, days after the Supreme Court of Canada allowed it. However, the accused moved the Department of Justice, headed by Federal Justice Minister Judy Wilson Raybould, for review who stayed the extradition. The Punjab Police team and the accused had boarded the plane but were told to alight just before the take-off.

Jassi and her husband Sukhwinder Singh Mithu of Kaunke Khosa in Jagraon were attacked on June 8, 2000 near Malerkotla by contract killers allegedly hired by Jassi’s mother and uncle. Jassi died while Mithu survived.

Jassi, a Canadian-born Indian girl who lived in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada, fell in love with Mithu of Kaunke Khosa when she was visiting her maternal uncle in India.