NEW DELHI: A Delhi Court has directed the Director General (DG) of Prisons to submit a detailed report on the conduct of Christian Michel James during his six-year incarceration in Tihar Jail.
The order comes in response to a plea from James’s legal team, which has argued that jail rules entitle well-behaved prisoners to remission of one month per year served.
Special CBI Judge Sanjeev Aggarwal of the Rouse Avenue Court has instructed the prison authorities to furnish a detailed report on James’s behaviour while in judicial custody. A notice has been also issued to the ED, and the matter is scheduled for further hearing on March 18. James, who was extradited from Dubai in December 2018, is facing charges in both a CBI case and a money laundering probe linked to the AgustaWestland chopper deal.
His lawyers, Advocates Aljo K Joseph and Vishnu, contended that after completing one-third of the maximum sentence—claimed to be seven years—he is entitled to a review of his conduct report under prison rules.
The court raised doubts over this assertion, highlighting that the CBI had invoked IPC’s Section 467, which carries a maximum punishment of life imprisonment. “How can you say his maximum sentence would be only seven years?” the judge questioned, pointing out that the case had additional charges beyond those initially cited by the defense. James’s counsel countered by citing the Extradition Treaty between India and the UAE, emphasising that he can only be prosecuted for offenses explicitly mentioned in the extradition request.