The Supreme Court said on Tuesday just because Christian Michel James, an alleged middleman in the AgustaWestland chopper scam, is a foreign national, how long can he be kept in custody and does his not being an Indian justify “complete deprivation” of his liberty.
James is a United Kingdom national and was extradited from Dubai in 2018.
A Bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha said, ordinarily, if the accused had been an Indian national, the court would have been willing to grant him bail, especially if he had spent more than four years in custody for the offences the maximum punishment for which is five years.
“Merely because he is a foreign national, how long can we keep him? Can that justify complete deprivation of his liberty? Had he been an Indian national, the court would have been willing to grant him bail,” the Bench told Additional Solicitor General SV Rau, appearing for probe agencies CBI and the ED.
The bench said what is worrying the court is the complexity of trial as there are over 250 witnesses in the case and the co-accused government officials have been granted bail for want of sanction for prosecution. “It’s an important issue for consideration, especially the construct between the treaty and the statute (Extradition Act, 1962).