Mallya’s lawyers question prison facilities in India

Mukesh Ranjan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 12

With the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) sending a reference to Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) mentioning the questions raised by Vijay Mallya’s lawyers over prison facilities in India, Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba is going to hold a meeting on Monday to prepare the response.

Mallya’s lawyers had recently raised the issue during extradition proceeding in a British court to block India’s bid to bring back the fugitive liquor baron from the UK, where he has taken refuge to avoid investigation and court proceedings in alleged bank loan default fraud cases worth Rs 9,000 crore.

MHA sources confirmed that the Home Secretary will most likely chair a meeting on Monday to finalise India’s formal response, which will be placed before the British court, where the extradition proceeding is going on.

The development comes days ahead of the next hearing in Westminster Magistrate’s Court in London on November 20 where the future course of 61-year-old Mallya’s extradition trial — scheduled to start on December 4 — will be discussed.

A senior MHA official indicated: “Our stance will be that the prison facilities in India are as good as any other place in the world. A prisoner’s legal rights are protected here, they are given accesses to medical facilities and their safety and security is protected by the authorities.”

The official said the argument put forward by Mallya’s lawyers in the UK court is an “obvious effort to delay his extradition”. Further asserting that there was “nothing special about Mallya”, He said, “In the past chief ministers and even corporate honchos have been lodged in the different prisons.”

The official, however, insisted that it would be “little pre-mature” to discuss in which prison Mallya would be lodged if he was extradited as the decision would lie entirely with the Indian court concerned where he would be tried.