Indian authorities are peeved after British human rights expert Derrick Pounder reportedly slammed the Indian prison law in Sabarmati jail in Gujarat during his visit to the country last week.
He was on a visit to the state to examine alleged human rights violations in Indian jails, a plea taken by 1993 Surat bombing accused Mohammed Hanif Patel, alias Hanif Tiger, in a UK court to counter India’s extradition request. India is expected to lodge a protest with the UK authorities after the Union home ministry gets a report from the Gujarat government on the matter. India’s appeal for Hanif’s extradition is expected to come up for hearing in the UK in January.
Inspector-general of prisons in Gujarat P.C. Thakur claimed to this newspaper that Mr Pounder “ordered jail officials” to allow him a closed-door meeting with Hanif’s co-accused convicted under Pota for the Surat bombing conspiracy.
“Mr Pounder said that he did not care for Indian laws spelt out in the jail manual and said that he is armed with a UK court order. He also demanded that Hanif’s co-accused be medically examined,” a top jail official said.
“Mr Pounder told prison officials that the rule books need to be amended,” Mr Thakur said. Incidentally, the Indian Prison Act is a vintage act of the British era. “The Gujarat jail officials were at pain to explain that India is a sovereign democratic republic and we respect human rights,” he added.
Mr Pounder landed in India along with the defence counsel and an interpreter last week.
Top government officials said only Mr Pounder and an Indian forensic expert, Dr Adarsh Kumar, had been authorised by the Indian government to meet the co-accused in the case.