JOIN USMental health underplayed in extradition fight: Nirav Modi's lawyer
By Katharine Gemmell
Disgraced diamond dealer Nirav Modi should not be extradited to India from the UK as concerns over his mental health weren’t properly considered by a London judge.
Modi is wanted in Indian courts over allegations he defrauded the state-run Punjab National Bank of around $2 billion. A London judge ruled earlier this year that he could be extradited, a decision that was successfully challenged in September.
UK lawyers for Modi argued at an appeal hearing on Tuesday that the lower court judge wrongly underplayed the seriousness of his mental health, failed to address the conditions of a Mumbai prison, and wrongly relied on assurances.
London judges regularly probe the impact to mental health during extradition proceedings. The risk of Julian Assange committing suicide was taken into account in his fight to stay in the UK In response to which the U.S. laid out several assurances about the conditions of his potential imprisonment. London judges approved the 50-year-old’s extradition on Dec. 10.
“To say it’s far from unusual is an inappropriate and unjustifiable minimisation,” Edward Fitzgerald, Modi’s lawyer, said in court Tuesday in relation to the previous assessment of his mental health.
Modi’s lawyers said that being sent to India would worsen his suicidal feelings and subject him to terrible conditions in a “Covid-rich prison” in Mumbai.
The drawn-out extradition of the businessman, once known as a jeweler to the stars, is the most high-profile since businessman Vijay Mallya who lost his appeal against his transfer to India.
“The appellant’s submissions fail to recognize that those conclusions were reached after a lengthy and comprehensive review of the evidence in the case,” Helen Malcolm, lawyer for the Indian government, said in documents prepared for the hearing.
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