Two British Columbia residents will be extradited to India after being accused of hiring assassins to kill a family member and her husband.
Malkit Kaur Sidhu and Surjit Singh Badesha will be extradited before Jan. 25, the Justice Department said.
They are accused of conspiracy to commit murder after Sidhu’s daughter and Badesha’s niece, Maple Ridge-born Jaswinder "Jassi" Kaur Sidhu, was killed in India.
She had gone to the country to marry Sukhwinder Singh Sidhu, a man Jaswinder’s family did not consider acceptable.
He was beaten and left for dead during the attack that killed his wife, but ultimately survived.
Jaswinder’s mother and uncle were earlier ordered to be extradited to face charges and were even en route to India in September 2017 when their trip was halted in Toronto after defence lawyers filed a last−minute application for a judicial review.
Last month, the BC Court of Appeal denied their requests for a stay of proceedings and a judicial review.
The duo had 30 days following that ruling to appeal but that period has now expired.
Lawyers for Badesha and Sidhu argued their clients weren’t given the chance to review the federal justice minister’s decision to extradite them and that they were denied access to counsel.
The court ruled unanimously that while the minister’s conduct did amount to an abuse of process, it did not warrant a stay of proceedings.
Sidhu and Badesha have long opposed their surrender to India, arguing they would face violence and torture in Indian prisons.
With Canadian Press
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