Royal Canadian Mounted Police on Thursday handed over two Canadian nationals, extradited to India to face trial in a much-publicised 19-year-old case of honour killing, to the Punjab police.
A team of the Punjab police took the extradited accused to Sangrur from the Delhi international airport on Thursday.
Extradited accused Malkit Kaur is to face trial for killing her 25-year-old daughter Jaswinder, fondly called Jassi, through contract killers in 2000 for marrying against her wishes. Jassi’s father was a millionaire and orchard owner in British Columbia.
Extradited along with Kaur is her cousin Surjit Singh Badesha, who too faces similar charges. In March 1999, Jassi married Sukhwinder Mithu, an auto driver in Punjab and a kabaddi player hailing from a poor Jat Sikh family. Mithu faced legal trouble thereafter.
In 2000, he was falsely implicated on charges of abduction and forced marriage by the Punjab cops on a doctored complaint by Jassi’s relatives. In May 2000, Jassi came to India and told the police that the charges against her husband were fabricated. The same year in June, contract killers attacked Jassi and Mithu in Punjab. Jassi was killed, while Mithu survived.
The state police arrested the seven killers. They confessed that the killing was carried out on the directions of Jassi’s mother and her uncle, who were residing in Canada.
Long wait for justice
Mithu said he hopes to get justice, 19 years on. In September 2017, a Punjab Police team had gone to Canada to secure the custody of the accused duo. However, due to some legal hitch, they returned without the custody of the accused.
Earlier pleas of extradition were turned down in Canada. In 2005, a local court in Sangrur pronounced life imprisonment for all seven accused of killing Jassi. After a series of interventions, the Supreme Court in Canada finally gave its nod for the extradition of the two accused. The appeal of the accused too was dismissed last month. The Punjab police produced the accused in the local court, securing their police remand today.