America has suffered a major setback in the alleged conspiracy to murder Khalistan terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannu.
Czech Republic has suspended the extradition proceedings of Indian citizen Nikhil Gupta. America has accused Nikhil Gupta of being involved in the failed attempt to murder Pannu.
Nikhil Gupta is currently lodged in a jail in the Czech Republic and the US has been demanding his extradition for several months.
According to a Times of India report, Nikhil Gupta had approached the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic to stop his extradition to the US.
Czech Justice Ministry spokesman Vladimir Repka said, “I confirm this information. “The extradition proceedings have been suspended until the Constitutional Court decides on the constitutional complaint.”
Last month, the High Court of Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, had given the green signal to Nikhil Gupta’s extradition to America. After this, Nikhil had approached the Constitution Court against the decision of the High Court.
The Czech Constitutional Court is the highest court in that country’s judicial system. That means the Constitutional Court of Czech is the Supreme Court there. The special thing is that no appeal can be made against the decision of this court.
There is an extradition treaty between America and Czech Republic under which America wants to take Nikhil Gupta to its country.
The US says Nikhil Gupta was allegedly acting at the behest of an Indian official in planning the assassination.
At the behest of the US, Nikhil was detained by Czech authorities soon after his arrival in Prague on June 30 last year.
According to Czech media, Nikhil Gupta’s lawyer said last month that he was going to file an appeal in the Constitutional Court. He said he would also ask the Justice Minister not to extradite Nikhil Gupta to the US.
Nikhil Gupta had accused the Czech authorities of serious human rights violations. Now the Czech Supreme Court will also look into these allegations.
If the Constitutional Court also decides that Nikhil Gupta can be extradited, then the final decision will be taken by the Justice Minister. But if this court stays it, then Nikhil’s extradition to America will not be possible.