Two B.C. residents who have been accused of arranging the 2000 honour killing of a Maple Ridge woman have had their extradition to India halted after a court ruling that came down while they were on a plane on Thursday.
The Court of Appeal ruled that there was an “arguable issue” in the case of Malkit Sidhu and Surjit Badesha that would necessitate a “complete hearing,” and that they should remain in Canada until that happens, Badesha’s lawyer Michael Klein told Global News.
Coverage of Jassi Sidhu on Globalnews.ca:
It’s not clear when the hearing will take place, but Badesha and Sidhu are now in Toronto, and they will “remain in Canada for the time being,” Klein said.
The people who had the pair in custody learned about the decision while they were in the air, and that “stopped them from continuing further,” he added.
Jassi Sidhu had travelled to India in 1994; there, she met Sidhu, a poor rickshaw driver who she married five years later.
That same year, Badesha was in the process of arranging a marriage between Jassi and a 60-year-old businessman.
In June 1999, Jassi confided to co-workers that her family had learned of her marriage after she had missed a number of days at work, and then came in with bruises.
Then, in April 2000, Jassi notified police about assault and threats from her family due to her marriage.
She travelled to India the following month and told police that she wasn’t coerced into marrying Mithu.
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Then, in June 2000, armed men attacked the married couple, and Jassi’s body was found. Her husband survived.
Indian police had alleged that Malkit, Jassi’s mother, gave the order to kill her.
Seven men were convicted in connection with Jassi’s death in 2005, and police alleged that Badesha and Malkit had paid them to do it.
Malkit and Badesha were arrested under the Extradition Act in 2012 and they have been in custody since then.
~With files from Paula Baker, Charmaine de Silva and Ria Renouf