On Tuesday, a Supreme Court’s division bench comprised of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha asked Central government agencies whether British national Christian Michel, who is alleged in the Agusta Westland fraud, can be held in jail perpetuity without bail merely because he's just a foreign national.

"One thing worrying us is, the complexity of this trial, as many as 200 witnesses. How long do we keep? Merely because he is a foreign national. Ordinarily if he was Indian national, the court would be inclined to grant bail," CJI Chandrachud orally remarked.

The bench then asked if it was appropriate to deprive Michel of his liberty solely because he was a foreign national, and the counsels were asked to submit a note to assist the court. The case is now scheduled to be heard in the second week of January 2023.

At the outset, petitioner Michel's counsel contended that his case was squarely covered by Section 436A of the CrPC and that he had nearly completed the maximum sentence of five years for the offences charged against him. It was also his contention that the investigation had been ongoing for nine years and was nowhere near completion. He stated-

“I've finished four years. The maximum punishment is 5 years. My case is covered under Sec 436A CrPC. There is a judgement which covers this- Dayasingh Lahoria v. State. This principle comes from doctrine of speciality. A fugitive can only be tried for offences mentioned in the extradition treaty. I've been charged under Sections 120B, 415, 420. There is no mention of Sec 8 of PC Act but it is also extracted. Corresponding provisions in the UAE have been extracted. I've been extradited for an offence which is punished with 5 years. Including my remission, I've completed almost 5 years. The FIR has been registered in Feb 2013. The incident is for 2004 and 2008. I have been arrested and brought to India on 4 December 2018. Chargesheets have been filed. More than 1280 documents need to be examined. Trial is under 207(Section 207 CrPC stage) since last many years. It's so voluminous CBI has not filed before the court. So the process of verification of unrelied documents is going on. It's unlikely that the trial will proceed in the next few years. The investigation has been going on for more than 9 years. In 2023, it'll finish 10 years.”

The Petition was opposed by Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, who represented the investigating agencies.To make his case, he relied on provisions of the Extradition Act and the Extradition Treaty.

The bench then stated that the matter would require further consideration and asked the counsel to submit a note on their proposal.

The case was then postponed until January of the following year.

Case Title: Christian Michael v. ED/CBI 
Citation: SLP(Crl) No. 4145/2022