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B.C. pair denied stay of extradition for honour killing in India

Two facing charges in India from 2000
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Jassi Sidhu was 25 when she was killed in India. Her throat was cut. (THE NEWS/files)

The B.C. Court of Appeal has rejected the request for a stay of the extradition order for Maple Ridge residents Surjit Singh Badesha and Malkit Kaur Sidhu.

The decision was announced Tuesday following a three-day hearing on Nov. 5 to 7.

Sidhu and Badesha are facing extradition after being charged in India with conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the June 2000 death of former Pitt Meadows secondary student Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu, also known as Jassi.

Surjit Singh Badesha is Jassi’s uncle and Malkit Kaur Sidhu is Jassi’s mom.

Lawyers for Malkit Sidhu, in her late 60s, and Badesha, in his early 70s, filed their applications in B.C. Court of Appeal in October 2017, claiming an abuse of process and stating that Canada’s justice minister, on Sept. 28, 2017, refused to accept the applicant’s submissions, didn’t follow the principles of natural justice and violated the pair’s Charter rights.

The earlier extradition was stayed in September 2017 after one of the lawyers filed an appeal, while Sidhu and Badesha were in custody in Toronto, on their way to India to face trial.

According to Appeal Court documents, Sidhu and Badesha had made additional submissions in the weeks before the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in favour of extradition in September 2017.

Jassi was killed in the Indian state of Punjab after she married rickshaw driver Sukhwinder ‘Mithu’ Singh Sidhu.

The court ruled that the submissions were similar to those made in 2014 and said “there is a need for the extradition process to proceed expeditiously and for finality in extradition proceedings.”

The summary of the Appeal Court ruling said that Badesha and Sidhu also have had the opportunity to challenge their extradition for the past seven years and their concerns about the Indian prison system “have been considered by two ministers of justice, this court and the Supreme Court of Canada.”

“Although the minister’s conduct amounted to an abuse of process, it does not warrant a stay of proceedings … ” the panel ruled.

Justices Bauman, Stromberg-Stein and Butler also decided that it was reasonable for the justice minister to surrender the pair to Indian authorities.