Jassi Sidhu case: Canada likely to extradite accused to India by January-end

Jaswinder Sidhu, a Punjabi-origin beautician from Canada, was allegedly murdered at the behest of her family in 2000 for marrying a man from Punjab against their wishes.

The mother and maternal uncle of Jaswinder Sidhu or Jassi, who was allegedly murdered at the behest of her family in 2000 for eloping with a man, may be extradited to India before the end of this month. Their lawyers failed to utilise the one-month period provided to file an appeal before the Canadian Supreme Court after an application to stay extradition proceedings was rejected by the British Columbia Court of Appeals last month.

Jaswinder Sidhu, a Punjabi-origin beautician from Canada, was allegedly murdered at the behest of her family in 2000 for marrying a man from Punjab against their wishes.(HT File)

The two, Malkit Kaur Sidhu and Surjit Singh Badesha, may be transferred to Indian authorities as early as January 25. They are expected to stand trial for the alleged killing of 25-year-old Jassi Sidhu. Their lawyers had argued before the Court of Appeal that new evidence pertaining to prison conditions in India had not been considered by Canada’s justice minister in deciding to surrender Sidhu and Badesha to a team of Indian law enforcement officials.

In a report on this matter, Canadian national broadcaster CBC quoted the department of justice as stating, “Canada is now in a position to fulfill the extradition request from India regarding [Malkit] Sidhu and Badesha. Appropriate arrangements will be made for their safe transfer to India.”

Jaswinder, alias Jassi, a Punjabi-origin beautician from Canada, and Sukhwinder Sidhu Mithu, a village boy and kabaddi player, had met in 1994 in Jagraon, where Jassi was visiting her maternal uncles.

They secretly got married in March 1999, against the wish of their families. Jassi went back to Canada after the wedding, only to return in May 2000. On June 8, 2000, the couple was attacked at Narike village of Malerkotla in Sangrur (Mithu’s maternal village).

Jaswinder, alias Jassi, a Punjabi-origin beautician from Canada, and Sukhwinder Sidhu Mithu, a village boy and kabaddi player, had met in 1994 in Jagraon, where Jassi was visiting her maternal uncles.

They secretly got married in March 1999, against the wish of their families. Jassi went back to Canada after, to return in May 2000. On June 8, 2000, the couple was attacked at Narike village of Malerkotla in Sangrur (Mithu’s maternal village). Jassi’s body was found several days later, dumped in a drain with her throat slit while Mithu survived.

Seventeen years after the killing, the Supreme Court of Canada, in December 2018, gave a go-ahead to the extradition of Malkit Kaur, Jassi’s mother, and Surjit Bandesh, her maternal uncle (mother’s real brother), who will now face trial at a local court in Sangrur. They had allegedly hired contract killers for the job.

Seven persons, including a Punjab police inspector Joginder Singh, were convicted in 2005 for “supari killing”. Later, three of them were acquitted by Punjab and Haryana high court. All four convicted accused then moved the apex court. In 2015, the Supreme Court of India upheld conviction and life imprisonment of three accused — Ashwani Kumar alias Ashu, Anil Kumar and police inspector Joginder Singh but another accused Darshan Singh was acquitted. The extradition of the main accused and conspirators, her mother and uncle, who were arrested by Canada police in 2012, was pending.

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