KNZ NEWS DESK
London: Only a failure now to control the significant Covid outbreak within Arthur Road jail in Mumbai could now further delay Vijay Mallya’s return to India. A dedicated detention centre for Mallya within that jail is the only location approved by the courts in Britain. His extradition has been made conditional to his detention there.
The Westminster court was given a video report of the detention centre for Mallya and approved that particular facility for him. Vijay Mallya could not simply be detained at some other facility without involving the courts in the UK again – and this could bring delays.
Vijay Mallya’s application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court was itself a delaying move. It was duly rejected on Thursday – the order was a certainty before it came. Mallya and his team of highly paid lawyers would have known that such cases are never allowed to go to the Supreme Court in Britain.
Unlike India, the Supreme Court in the UK only takes up matters of law of wide public interest. It’s not an appellate court – in Britain that is the High Court that turned down Mallya’s appeal against extradition on April 20.
But Mallya’s team is certain to raise the risk of taking him to the approved detention centre in India in the current coronavirus environment. Close to 200 Covid positive cases have been reported within Arthur Road jail, including several prison staff. Being sent into such an environment, the only one legally approved, could be claimed as a threat to his human rights.
In the present conditions, the Covid situation within Arthur Road jail would have to be controlled, and demonstrably controlled. Or, the Indian government would have to convince a court in London that some other detention centre is at least as acceptable.
