Both the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) failed to file on Wednesday affidavits sought by the Calcutta High Court in connection with the extradition of Danish national Niels Holck alias Kim Davy, the main accused in the 1995 Purulia arms drop case.
A Division Bench comprising Justices Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Soumen Sen had, during hearing on a petition, directed the Centre on August 24 to file an affidavit within three weeks on the steps taken to ratify the United Nations Convention against Torture 1984.
The court also asked the CBI then to file affidavits on what action had been taken for extradition of Mr. Davy and his two associates, Peter Heastrup and Brian Thune, from Denmark for their prosecution in the case.
The Ministry and the CBI sought from the court two more weeks time to file the affidavits on the ground that their officials were busy in the case relating to the blast outside the Delhi High Court on September 7.
The court granted their pleas and hearing will be taken up in the first week of November when the court reopens after the Puja vacation.
On June 30, a Danish High Court upheld the decision of a lower court there, rejecting a plea from the CBI for Kim Davy's extradition on grounds that he would risk “torture or other inhuman treatment” in India.
If the U.N. Convention against Torture had been ratified in Parliament, it might have been possible to ensure the extradition of Kim Davy. Although India signed the U.N. treaty in October 1997, no steps had been taken for its ratification, the petitioner, Deepak Prahladka, said.
