New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday stayed the extradition of a Bangladeshi national to the USA where he is wanted in a 24-year-old murder case.
The court stayed the January 9 decision of an Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) ordering sending Mehfuz Huq to the US to face trial in a murder case which was registered in 1989. Authorities in Delhi`s Tihar Jail were to hand him over to US marshals today for his extradition.
In an interim order, Justice G P Mittal said petitioner Huq shall not be sent out of India till the next date of hearing. The court also issued notices to the Home Ministry, External Affairs Ministry and Tihar Jail authorities and sought their response by March 18.
Following a Red Corner Notice, Huq was arrested from the IGI Airport by the Delhi Police on February 10, 2011 after arriving from Dhaka with some school children for a tournament here.
Huq is facing charges in a USA court for the murder of 19-year-old Todd Kelly in Indianapolis as he was against Kelly`s alleged intimacy with his girlfriend.
It was alleged that Huq, who hails from Dhaka, after committing Kelly`s murder on August 9, 1989 fled to his native country Bangladesh and started working as a teacher with a school run by the US Embassy.
Challenging the order for extradition, advocates Jayant K Sud and Vishal Dabas, appearing for Huq, contended that the ACMM`s order was based on the documents which were not sufficient to extradite him.
PTI
