Davy case: CBI to urge Denmark to challenge order

Most legal experts in India feel that the order passed by the Danish high court rejecting New Delhi's application to extradite Kim Davy, the alleged lynchpin in the 1995 Purulia arms drop case, is not in consonance with the principles of natural justice and that the Central Bureau of Investigation should appeal against the order in the Danish Supreme court. However, the order can be challenged only by the Danish government and not the CBI.

"We have not received the complete copy of the judgment. We will go through the judgment and formally request the Danish government through ministry of external affairs to appeal against the order in Danish SC. CBI is not a party to the case. Kim Davy had challenged the order of the Danish government to extradite him to India to stand trail in the Purulia case, which was upheld by the Danish HC," Dharini Misra, CBI spokesperson told rediff.com on Friday.

A five judge bench of the Eastern high court of Denmark had rejected the Danish government's order to extradite Davy after taking necessary undertaking from India that he would not be given death sentence and would serve the tenure of imprisonment in Denmark. The extradition application was turned down on grounds that he will be tortured.

Well-known criminal lawyer R K Anand said that it was a fit case for the CBI to appeal against the order. "The order of the Danish court is an insult to India. How can they presume that he would be tortured during interrogation," he asked.

Another senior advocate Ashok Arora, who at one point of time was defence lawyer of controversial godman Chandraswami alias Nemi Chand Jain, suspected to have financed the conspirators involved in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, agreed with Anand's contention.

"The order of the Danish high court should be challenged. The order adds insult to the injury. To redeem India's prestige the CBI should and must go for an appeal in the Danish Supreme Court," Arora said.

"In my view, the Danish courts rejection of Davy's extradition is totally perverse. The grounds for rejection based on inhuman conditions in India is very unfortunate. It is a cardinal rule of international law that when an offence has been committed and the accused is in another country, he should be extradited to the concerned country to stand trial for the offence committed. The CBI through ministry of external affairs must appeal against this judgment in the Danish Supreme court," Pinky Anand of the Delhi high court told rediff.com.

Davy was the pilot of the aircraft that dropped a cache of arms and ammunition in the forests of Purulia district in West Bengal on December 17 1995. On his return journey the plane was intercepted over Mumbai and made to land. Davy managed to escape -- some reports state he bribed airport security officials.

Davy was traced to Denmark in 2001. Since then, India has been trying to have him extradited.