Interacting with Indian officials recently on the sidelines of an event, Interpol secretary general Jurgen Stock said for the past few years, the global body had faced allegations of lax scrutiny of red notice requests by member countries and some misused the system for political, religious and military reasons or for curbing freedom of expression.
Stock, a CBI officer said, claimed that as part of the review, there was now a dedicated ‘task force’ which scrutinised every red notice request. Since 2017, Interpol has reviewed over 40,000 red notices.
Interestingly, the Interpol secretary general even cited a fine imposed on the body for issuing red notice against a wrong person. TOI wrote to Interpol seeking details of the case in which it was asked to pay fine. It didn’t deny the fine but refused to divulge details.
Responding to Interpol’s apprehensions, CBI, NIA and ED officials told Stock that their requests were backed by chargesheets and witness testimonies filed under India’s Criminal Procedure Code, Indian Penal Code and other laws and courts had issued non-bailable warrants against these fugitives.
The CBI, which acts as the National Central Bureau of Interpol in India, even offered to send a team to the global body’s headquarters in Lyon, France, to explain the procedure so that pending requests could be expedited. According to sources, Interpol said it wanted to send a team to India to understand the process.
The discussions, sources said, took place before the feud between CBI director Alok Verma and special director Rakesh Asthana came out in the open on October 23. Owing to the deadlock in CBI, the Interpol team’s visit is stuck.
“Interpol has an important role to play in the fight against global crime, but unfortunately it has been misused by a number of countries to target activists, journalists and refugees. Fair Trials has campaigned for changes to stop this from being the case for a number of years. It’s great that Interpol has shown a willingness to listen, and we welcome the changes introduced so far, but there’s still so much work to be done,” Alex Mik, campaigns and networks director of UK-based Fair Trials International, told TOI. Fair Trials has regularly intervened in wrong arrests or unverified red notices on the request of Interpol member countries.
Interpol’s constitution says it is “strictly forbidden for the organisation to undertake any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character”. However, it largely relies on the information provided by its national bureaus in member countries. In India’s case, accused like Zakir Naik and Mehul Choksi have claimed religious and political persecution. Choksi’s case is being heard by the Commission for the Control of Interpol Files, an independent body which reviews specific red notice request.
from Times of India https://ift.tt/2A41G3x
