The Supreme Court on Friday asked the family of Nikhil Gupta, who was detained in Prague for plotting to kill Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, to move the Czech court for relief over claims his religious and human rights were violated.
Gupta (52) has been charged in the US with involvement in an alleged murder plot against Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. His family moved the Supreme Court on Friday saying Gupta was illegally detained in the Czech Republic.
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The family approached the Supreme Court seeking directions to the Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Home Affairs for help and intervention with Czech authorities.
The plea by the family in the Supreme Court said, “The petitioner, being a law-abiding Indian citizen, has been detained in a foreign prison facility at Prague where he has a grave threat to his life.”
Nikhil Gupta is the man who stands accused of involvement in the “government plot” to kill Khalistani leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. It was last month that the US federal prosecutors charged Gupta with working with an Indian government employee in the foiled plot to kill Pannun, an American and Canadian citizen, and a Khalistani terrorist, as designated by India.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and S V N Bhatti that took up the matter initially asked the petitioner to approach the “concerned court” in the Czech Republic, Indian Express reported.
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“You will have to go to the court concerned… We will not go to all this. We will not have an adjudication over here. It is an extremely sensitive matter for the Ministry of External Affairs or that matter any ministry to come in. It is for them to decide,” Justice Khanna told senior advocate C Aryama Sundaram, who appeared for the petitioner.
Sundaram told the bench, “We are not getting any assistance. Today we do not even have an extradition order. We do not know what is happening.”
Sundaram also urged the court to hear it after the New Year and Christmas holidays. “There is something I require, at least a status report to assist me with. Please see what crossfire I am caught with,” he said.
Agreeing, the bench fixed January 4 to hear it next.
‘Forced to eat beef’
In his petition, Nikhil Gupta claimed that he was forced to consume beef and pork during his detention in Czech custody despite being a devout Hindu and vegetarian. This is a direct violation of his religious beliefs, he said in the petition. He also claims that he was denied consular access, the right to contact his family in India, and the freedom to seek legal representation.
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Two days ago, the Ministry of Justice of the Czech Republic stated that Gupta was arrested at the behest of the United States, which is attempting to extradite him to the country. Vladimir Repka, a spokesperson for the Czech Ministry of Justice, said the charges against Gupta include conspiracy to murder for hire.
Gupta faces murder-for-hire charges, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.