UK Team Assesses Tihar Jail As India Seeks To Bring Back Fugitives: Sources

As India is seeking the extradition of fugitives such as Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, and Sanjay Bhandari from the UK, a team of Britain's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) visited Delhi's Tihar Jail to assess the prison conditions earlier this year. According to sources, the assessment took place in July.

The team included four people - two CPS experts and two British High Commission officials, sources said.

The four-member team assessed the high-security ward in Tihar jail and the facilities and security provided to prisoners. They also interacted with some prisoners, sources added.

According to officials, the UK assessment team was generally satisfied with the prison conditions, with the members calling the prison system "good" and "close to international standards". The Indian authorities also assured the team that if necessary, a separate place can be created for high-profile extraditees and their special needs would be taken care of. The authorities also assured that the extraditees would not be in any danger, sources said.

This comes months after a UK court had allowed high-profile arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari's appeal against his extradition to India, saying that in Tihar jail, he would be at "real risk" of extortion, accompanied by threat or "actual violence" from other prisoners and prison officials. 

The UK officials had also sought a written guarantee from India that no prisoner in Tihar would be ill-treated.

According to the government data, a total of 178 extradition requests from India are pending in different countries at present. Out of these, at least 20 are in the UK - which includes names of high-profile fugitives like Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, and Sanjay Bhandari, apart from many Khalistani leaders.