New Delhi (Sputnik): The girl's mother and uncle, the two main accused in the honour-killing case of Canada-born Jassi Sidhu, of Indian origin, have been extradited from Canada to India to stand trial, reports the news portal Global News. The duo, Malkit Kaur Sidhu, the victim's mother, and Surjit Singh Badesha, the victim's maternal uncle, reached Delhi from Vancouver on Thursday morning. Both the accused are Canadian citizens of Indian origin.
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They will be taken to Punjab, a state in northern India, where the murder took place 18 years ago.
The victim, Jaswinder Sidhu, fondly referred to as Jassi, was killed during a visit to Punjab in India in June 2000. The victim's family was upset that Jassi had married Sukhwinder Singh, who belonged to a caste that was lower than hers. Moreover, the marriage was a secret one that took place in 1999 during her travel to India.
The first Indian request to extradite the duo went to Canadian authorities in 2005. In 2014 the British Columbia Supreme Court at Vancouver ordered them to be deported to India for trial.
On appeal by the accused, British Columbia's Appeal Court overturned the deportation order citing the allegation that India's record for treatment of prisoners was "appalling" as a reason.
The Indian authorities persisted, and in September 2017, the accused were on the verge of being deported when a Canadian court ordered a last-minute stay. The court took cognizance of some unverified Facebook posts alleging that the accused would be subjected to prejudice and would not get a fair trial in India as committed to by Indian authorities.
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Subsequently, the nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court of Canada, through a unanimous decision, overruled the lower court's stay on the extradition of the honour-killing victim's mother and maternal uncle to India.
