Tahawwur Rana seeks stay on extradition

Days after the US Supreme Court Judge Elena Kagan rejected the review petition of 2008 Mumbai terror attack accused Tahawwur Hussain Rana, the latter has now filed a request with US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to stop his extradition to India.

Advertisement

The application has been distributed to Supreme Court judges for a conference scheduled for April 4. Rana has renewed his application, seeking a stay on his extradition to India.

Rana, a close associate of prime accused in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks David Coleman Headley, is serving supervised detention at a metropolitan detention centre in Los Angeles after completing a 14-year sentence in 2023.

“Petitioner Rana has renewed his emergency application for stay pending litigation of petition for writ of habeas corpus, which was previously addressed to Justice Kagan, and requests that the renewed application be directed to Chief Justice Roberts,” his appeal stated, as per the order published on the US Supreme Court’s website.

Earlier this month, the US apex court denied Rana’s request for a stay on his extradition to India. In his application, Rana argued that he would not survive long enough to be tried in India due to various health-related reasons.

On February 14, US President Donald Trump had announced Rana’s extradition to India during a joint press conference in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Washington.

Rana’s legal team emphasised that he, now 64, is in deteriorating health and unlikely to survive long enough to stand trial in India. They also claimed that India’s criminal justice system has a documented history of human rights violations, referencing US State Department reports detailing instances of custodial torture and mistreatment of detainees.