UK Crown Prosecution Service inspects Tihar Jail — Could this speed up Mallya, Nirav Modi extradition to India?
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "UK Crown Prosecution Service inspects Tihar Jail — Could this speed up Mallya, Nirav Modi extradition to India?")
File Photo: Tihar Jail, Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya Photograph: (Combination created using images from agencies)
A delegation of Britain's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) recently paid a visit to Tihar Jail. Here's why this was a crucial step in India's efforts to fast-track pending extradition cases in the UK.
A delegation from Britain's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) recently inspected Tihar Jail in Delhi, according to reports. This move comes as part of India's efforts to address long-standing concerns over prison conditions that have stalled extradition cases in UK courts. According to reports citing senior officials, the four-member team — two CPS experts and two British high commission representatives — visited the prison in July. They inspected the high-security wards, spoke with inmates, and later met officials from the ministries of home and external affairs, as well as investigating agencies, to review legal and procedural aspects of pending extradition cases.
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Why was the Tihar jail visit important?
The visit comes at a time when several high-profile fugitives wanted in India, including economic offenders Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya, continue to fight extradition in the UK by citing fears of poor conditions, mistreatment, or risk of violence inside Indian prisons. British judges have accepted those arguments in the past. Earlier this year, the UK High Court blocked the extradition of arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari on these grounds, and a Westminster court cited the same concerns in granting bail to fraud-accused Virkaran and Ritika Awasty.
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To counter this, Indian officials reportedly assured the CPS team that conditions inside Tihar are safe and comparable to international standards. They even indicated that if required, a separate “enclave” could be created within the prison complex to house high-profile extraditees, offering additional protection. The government has also issued sovereign guarantees to London that no fugitive will be tortured or subjected to illegal interrogation if returned to India, in line with European human rights standards.
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What's at stake?
The stakes are high. Government data shows 178 extradition requests from India are pending worldwide, nearly 20 of them with the UK. These include cases involving fugitives tied to economic crimes, terrorism, and organised crime. Among them are liquor baron Vijay Mallya, wanted over Rs 9,000 crore in loan defaults, and jeweler Nirav Modi, the prime accused in the Rs 13,800 crore Punjab National Bank scam.
