Indian convict in Aus hit-and-run case to face extradition: HC

The Delhi High Court has refused to interfere in the extradition proceedings initiated against a man who had mowed down a student and injured another while driving in an inebriated state in Australia in 2008.
Justice Ashutosh Kumar said there was "no good reason" to interfere in the proceedings when an inquiry against the man was already afoot.
The proceedings were initiated by the Indian government in 2010 on Australia's request to extradite Puneet, who had fled that country in 2009 on a friend's passport after being found guilty of negligent driving.
He had challenged the proceedings before a magisterial court, saying there was no extradition treaty between India and Australia, when the latter had made the request to extradite him.

The high court dismissed his plea and said there was a 1971 notification which made the provisions of the Extradition Act of 1962 applicable to the Commonwealth of Australia and therefore, there was an extradition arrangement with that nation since then.
The court also said that the arrangement was replaced by the extradition treaty entered between the two countries in 2011.

Puneet was charged by the Victoria Police for causing the death of 19-year-old Dean Hofstee and seriously injuring 20- year-old Clancy Coker in a road accident that happened in 2008. The victims were students from Queensland.
Police had said that the alcohol levels in his blood showed he was inebriated at the time of the accident.

Under Australian law the offence committed by him entails a punishment of upto 20 years imprisonment.
Puneet, who had gone to Australia to study hospitality, was arrested on November 29, 2013 from Punjab after a four- year long manhunt.