U.S. Supreme Court Justice Listens Tahawwur Rana’s New Application for Extradition to India | Indian News
The U.S. Supreme Court Justice will hear an updated application for Mumbai terrorist attack charge Tahawwur Rana next month and submit it to Chief Justice John Roberts seeking his extradition to India for his stay.
Rana, 64, currently lives in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles on February 27, 2025, and filed a “last lawsuit for writ lawsuit against habeas corpus” with U.S. Supreme Court and Circuit Justice Justice Elena Kagan on February 27, 2025.
Earlier this month, Kagan denied the application.
Rana then renewed his “emergency application to stay in the petition’s lawsuit, having previously addressed Judge Kagan and requested that the re-application be directed to Chief Justice Roberts.
The order on the Supreme Court website states that Rana’s renewal application has been “distributed as a meeting on 4/4/2025” and that the “application” has been “referred to the court”.
Ravi Batra, a well-known Indian-American lawyer based in New York, told PTI that Rana had filed an application with the Supreme Court to prevent extradition, a question that Justice Kagan denied on March 6.
The application is now in front of Roberts, “who shared the meeting with the court to capitalize on the perspective of the entire court.”
Batra added that the problem facing the Supreme Court is that since the president has constitutional authority to engage in foreign policy and participate in foreign policy within the scope of the state, “our national policy is counter-terrorism – whether it is state sponsorship or the lone wolf – whether there are any legal or constitutional principles that the court can impartially rely on, with the President (Donald) ace to rule the ace”.
Batra added that he fully expects “in a calm time, CJ Roberts will deny Rana’s right to stay in the United States and avoid facing justice in India.”
“At present, with so many district judges blocking President Trump’s domestic agenda change… the Supreme Court will be easier to reject Lana.”
“After President Trump and Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi met in an oval, President Trump announced at a press conference that Lana would be extradited to India to face his victims and justice. The current posture is similar to a fish coming out of the water, but to move around and try to return to American waters,” Batra said.
Rana is seeking his extradition and surrendering to India, pending the suit (including exhaustion of all appeals), and the merits of his petition filed on February 13.
In this petition, Rana argued that his extradition to India violated U.S. law and the UN Convention against Torture because it was believed that if extraditioned to India, the petitioner would be at risk of torture. ”
“In this case, the possibility of torture is even higher, although the petitioner faces acute risks of the alleged Pakistani origin in the Mumbai attack,” the application said.
The application also stated that in this case, his “severe medical condition” made Indian detention centers extradition “de facto” death penalty.
It cites medical records starting in July 2024, confirming that Rana has multiple “acute and life-threatening diagnoses” including multiple recorded heart attacks, Parkinson’s disease, cognitive decline, suggesting a history of bladder cancer, stage 3 chronic kidney disease, and chronic asthma, and multiple Covid-199 infections.
“The petitioner, therefore, certainly raised a reliable fact, if not a compelling fact, does have substantial reasons to believe that if he surrenders to the Indian authorities, he will be at risk of torture.
Furthermore, due to his Muslim religion, his Pakistani origins, his status as a former member of the Pakistani army, the presumptive allegations’ relationship with the 2008 Mumbai attack, and his chronic health status, he was even more likely to be tortured than others, and the torture is likely to kill him. ”
The U.S. Supreme Court denied Rana’s petition, which is related to the original habeas order of January 21, 2025.
The application states that on the same day, newly confirmed Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Foreign Minister Dr. S Jaishankar.
When Prime Minister Modi arrived in Washington on February 12 to meet with Trump, Lana’s lawyer received a letter from the State Department saying that “on February 11, 2025, the Secretary of State decided to authorize Lana’s “surrender to India” in accordance with “the extradition treaty between the United States and India.”
Rana’s lawyers requested the State Department to provide a complete administrative record, and Rubio was decided by Rubio’s secretary to authorize Rana to surrender to India.
The lawyer also requested immediate information on any commitments made by the United States to receive Rana treatment from India. “The government refuses to provide any information on these requirements,” the application said.
It added that given Lana’s underlying health status and the State Department’s own findings regarding the inmate’s treatment, “Lana will most likely not survive long enough to be tried in India.
The application said: “The questions raised by the petitioner deserve full and careful consideration, and the shares are huge for him. What the U.S. court owes the petitioner is that the petitioner has a full opportunity to sue these issues, including the exercise of the right to appeal, before he is entrusted to him to await his fate in the hands of the Indian government.”
It added that if there is no entry into the stake, there will be no review at all, and the U.S. court will lose jurisdiction, “The petitioner will die soon. Therefore, we would like to ask that the court bring an order that continues an order to stay in the litigation, and, if necessary, proceedings, and proceedings in the litigation of the circuit court, and if necessary.
U.S. President Trump announced at a joint press conference between the White House and Prime Minister Modi last month that Lana’s extradition has been approved.
Supreme Court Justice is Deputy Justice Clarence Thomas and Deputy Justice Samuel A Alito
