UN pulls up India on British businessman Christian Michel detention

The United Nations (UN) Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD), which ope­rates under the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has slammed India on the 27-month incarceration of British businessman Chri­stian Michel without prosecution. It has also asked the Narendra Modi government to immediately release him and provide an enforceable right to compensation in acc­o­rdance with international law.

Michel’s lawyers revealed WGAD recorded in its ‘Opinion No 88/2020’ that “the violations of the right to a fair trial and due process are of such gravity as to give Michel’s deprivation of liberty an arbitrary character”. 

It concluded India has contravened the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. WGAD has referred the matter to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture for further action.

WGAD also ruled Michel was unlawfully arrested and handed over to India.  He was asked by the Central Bureau of Investigation to sign a preposterous confession under duress to say he paid bribes to the Gandhi family of the Congress party to procure an order for AgustaWestland VVIP helicopters when the United Progressive Alliance was in government. His lawyers maintain this is a charge trumped up by the Modi administration. WGAD’s order has all but upheld Michel’s innocence by the UAE government.