New Delhi: The highest court of the Czech Republic has stayed the lower courts’ decisions permitting the extradition of Indian national Nikhil Gupta — indicted by the United States for plotting to kill Khalistan separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun — citing no significant harm to the public interest if this action is delayed, according to an Indian Express report.
In its interim decision dated January 30, 2024, the Constitutional Court in Prague said Gupta’s extradition to the US for criminal prosecution would result in disproportionately greater harm to him than anyone else. Further, it emphasized that this action would be irreversible, even if it upholds Gupta’s challenge.
Markéta Andrová, the spokesperson of the Czech Ministry of Justice, told The Indian Express that this interim decision means “the Minister of Justice cannot decide on extradition or refusal until the Constitutional Court decides on the merits of the complaint filed by Nikhil Gupta”.
On January 19, 2024, Gupta challenged the decisions of the Municipal Court in Prague dated November 23, 2023, and the High Court in Prague dated January 8, 2024, both of which had ruled positively on the admissibility of the US’s request for his extradition.
Alluding to the involvement of state actors, Gupta’s lawyer is learnt to have argued that the Municipal Court and the High Court did not properly assess the political nature of the act. The US and Czech Republic have an extradition treaty under which the US wants Gupta extradited. Gupta was detained by Czech authorities, at the request of the US government, shortly after he arrived in Prague on June 30 last year.
