New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay a Delhi High Court order allowing the extradition of Maninder Pal Singh Kohli, accused of raping and killing British teenager Hannah Foster.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan declined to give an early hearing to the petition filed by Kohli, challenging the order of the high court on his extradition issue. The court said the matter would be heard on July 20.
India's Ministry of External Affairs is likely to go ahead with the extradition of Kohli once it gets a green signal from the apex court.
Earlier, the Delhi High Court had dismissed Kohli's petition challenging a lower court's order on his extradition. The High Court also came down on the lower court for its observation that Kohli was prima facie guilty in the case.
"Findings of the extradition magistrate shall be treated only as a prima-facie and not as a conclusive evidence against the petitioner (Kohli), whatever the reasoning given by the magistrate," the lower court had said.
Kohli had approached the Delhi High Court seeking modification of order of the June 8 order of a session’s court. The counsel appearing for Kohli contended that the finding recorded by the extradition magistrate conclusively indict him, which is against the law.
“The extradition magistrate has no power to go into the merits of the case. The finding of the magistrate in my case comments on the merits and these findings would severely prejudice my case in the United Kingdom," Kohli had pleaded.
Accepting the contention of Kohli, the court said, "the magistrate has held that there is a case against Kohli, nevertheless to allay the apprehension the report of extradition magistrate stands modified and it would only be a prima-facie evidence against him."
Seventeen-year-old Hannah Foster was raped and killed in 2003. Kohli, the main suspect in the case, had escaped from UK to India after the incident.
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