New Delhi: Indian citizen Nikhil Gupta, who is under detention in Prague for his alleged involvement in the purported conspiracy to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, has claimed to have received a “cold response” from the Indian Embassy officials in the Czech Republic.
This, claims Gupta, happened when his lawyers approached the authorities for support in the extradition proceedings initiated against him at the behest of the US administration.
In a habeas corpus petition filed in the Supreme Court, Gupta’s family said he is “aggrieved by the blatant negligence and omission” by the Indian Embassy officials to handle his case with “due care and caution”.
Gupta, who is facing extradition, is currently lodged in Pankrac prison in Prague, where, he alleged, he was being kept in illegal detention.
He has been under duress to confess to the allegations, said the petition filed in the Supreme Court of India, which also disclosed that a lower court in Prague has given a green signal to Gupta’s extradition.
However, Gupta wants to file an appeal against it, but is unable to do so in the absence of the order copy, the petition added.
Despite representations, emails, letters and phone calls to both the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Indian Embassy in Prague, there has been no action or involvement by the latter, claims the petition.
According to it, Gupta is facing numerous procedural violations of basic human rights and a threat to his fundamental rights. The petition adds that he has been kept in solitary confinement for the past 100 days on the pretext that he is suffering from an infectious disease and forced to eat non-vegetarian food, including pork, in breach of his religious sentiments.
“There is an attempt by the US Agencies to pressurise (sic) the Czech authorities to ensure he doesn’t receive any help or assistance (legal),” and the “Indian Embassy were mute spectators” to the same, the petition has submitted.
A bench led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna Friday adjourned the hearing of Gupta’s petition to 4 January.
However, the bench verbally stated that it was an extremely sensitive matter for any ministry to come in. “It’s for them (ministry) to decide,” the court told Gupta’s counsel, senior advocate C.A. Sundaram and advocate Rohini Musa.
The bench also suggested the family approach the court in whose jurisdiction the alleged violation of law has taken place.
On the lawyers’ submission that their client was seeking relief for proper consular assistance in Prague, the bench agreed to take up the matter in January. The advocates also urged for an in-chamber hearing, which, the court said would be considered on the next date.
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What petition by Nikhil Gupta’s family alleges
According to the petition, Gupta was allegedly picked up from the Prague airport on 30 June, soon after he got immigration clearance. It adds that he was visiting Prague for tourism and to explore new business opportunities.
The men who detained him from the airport initially did not reveal their identity, the petition said, adding that they forced him to sit in an SUV in which two men were already present and that he was then forced to unlock his phone.
Later, he was told that the men were American agents, who had picked him up on the basis of an indictment submitted by the US Justice Department, accusing him of murder conspiracy charges.
Gupta’s petition alleged he was handed over to the Czech police three hours after he was illegally detained by the unidentified individuals. At the time, he was not allowed to speak to his family or given consular access. The police or the local authorities in Prague never even conveyed that he had been arrested, to the Indian Embassy, the petition has said.
An official from the Indian Embassy visited Gupta in jail 20 days after he was imprisoned. During that time, his family kept writing emails to the Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian Embassy in Prague but got no response. His repeated requests to connect with the family or the Indian Embassy were shot down by the jail authorities.
Finally, on 21 July, on his petition, the high court in Prague permitted him to make a phone call to his family.
However, in the first week of August, he was again denied permission, with the jail authorities saying that the service provider who facilitates international calling for inmates had stopped providing services for calls to Indians.
The defence attorney who was provided to him by the Czech authorities pressured him to give his consent for extradition.
According to the petition, the allegation mentioned in the indictment based on which he was detained is against Nick, which is not Gupta’s name.
Hence, he said, it was a case of mistaken identity.
The petition challenged his arrest on the ground that it was done in the absence of a red corner notice. Gupta was never stopped at the New Delhi airport nor Istanbul from where he took a connecting flight to Istanbul.
Gupta, the petition added, got to hire a lawyer only in August, after he managed to reconnect with his family. He was abruptly moved to solitary confinement on the ground that he was suffering from a “serious blood infection” and was also moved to a new prison in Brno, without informing the Indian Embassy officials.
The petition said Gupta has not been supplied with a copy of the medical documents.
In Brno, he was forcibly injected with medicines for which he never consented. This, the petition added, was part of the pressuring tactic deployed by the US authorities to force him to admit his involvement.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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