MONTREAL, Canada: Canada’s Supreme Court on Friday ruled that two of its citizens can be extradited to India for their alleged role in an honor killing 17 years ago.
Surjit Singh Badesha, 72 and Malkit Kaur Sidhu, 67, are wanted in connection with the murder of Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu, who was 25 at the time of her death.
The suspects, both Canadian citizens of Indian origin, are the uncle and mother of the slain woman.
Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu’s body was found with her throat slit in June 2000 in Punjab state.
Indian prosecutors say that she was the victim of an honor killing planned by her mother and uncle, who furiously opposed the young woman’s marriage to a poor rickshaw driver, something the victim had kept secret for a year.
After revealing her marriage to her family, the victim reportedly flew from Canada to India to reunite with her husband, Mithu Sidhu.
The couple was later attacked as they rode a scooter in a village near Sangrur, Punjab in June 2000. Her husband was severely beaten and left for dead while Sidhu was kidnapped and later killed.
The slain woman’s mother and uncle allegedly hired the thugs that carried out the attack.
Seven men were eventually convicted of the crime in India, but several of those convictions were overturned on appeal.
The family has denied involvement in the killing.
Three people were found guilty of the murder in India, and authorities for years have been seeking the extradition of the two Indo-Canadians.
Canada’s justice minister granted an extradition in 2014, but the ruling was reversed on appeal in 2016.
On Friday, the nine Supreme Court justices unanimously authorized the extradition.
“In this case, it was reasonable for the minister to conclude that, on the basis of the assurances he received from India, there was no substantial risk of torture or mistreatment” of the suspects “that would offend the principles of fundamental justice” in the Canadian constitution, the ruling read.
In so-called “honor” killings, carried out to protect what is seen as family pride, reasons for disapproval can include having relationships outside of one’s caste or religion.
Canada extradites two to India over honor killing
Canada extradites two to India over honor killing
Reform UK London mayoral candidate criticized over burqa stop-and-search remarks
- Laila Cunningham claimed parts of British capital felt culturally different due to the visibility of Muslim communities
LONDON: The newly announced London mayoral candidate for the right-wing British party Reform UK faced criticism on Friday following comments suggesting women wearing the burqa should be subject to police stop-and-search, The Guardian newspaper reported.
Speaking on a podcast, Laila Cunningham said that in an “open society” people should not cover their faces, adding that it “has to be assumed” those who do so are doing it “for a criminal reason.”
She also argued that London should have “one civic culture” which “should be British,” claiming parts of the British capital felt culturally different due to the visibility of Muslim communities.
The remarks prompted concern from Muslim organizations, with Shaista Gohir, chief executive of the Muslim Women’s Network UK, describing the comments as “dangerous” and a “dog whistle” that could further alienate Muslim women.
She warned they risked emboldening abuse, adding: “The number of Muslim women who wear the burqa in this country is tiny, and yet this is what has been chosen as a focus.”
Gohir said her organisation had recently seen a rise in threatening and Islamophobic correspondence, arguing that Cunningham’s comments were “sending a message to Muslims that they do not belong.”
Afzal Khan, a Labour MP based in Manchester, called Cunningham’s comments a “deliberate and cynical ploy”, adding it was “about divisive ideas being pumped into the society deliberately for electoral benefits.”
London Mayor Sadiq Khan also criticized attempts to stoke division, saying that the role of mayor was to bring communities together.
“Almost without argument, our city is the greatest city in the world because of our diversity,” he said, adding that freedom of religion and expression were “quintessentially British rights.”
Cunningham, a former Crown Prosecution Service prosecutor and British-born Muslim, was confirmed as Reform UK’s London mayoral candidate last week.
The issue of face coverings has previously sparked internal debate within Reform, with senior figures having distanced the party from earlier calls for a burqa ban.
