Pair accused in B.C. woman's 'honour killing' to be extradited within days

Arrangements are now being made to extradite the B.C. pair accused of masterminding the so-called honour killing of Jaswinder (Jassi) Sidhu to India to face trial.

Malkit Sidhu and Surjit Badesha — Jassi Sidhu's mother and uncle — lost their last-ditch effort at a stay of extradition proceedings last month.

They had until Jan. 10 to file an appeal with the Supreme Court of Canada but have not done so.

"Canada is now in a position to fulfill the extradition request from India regarding Ms. Sidhu and Mr. Badesha. Appropriate arrangements will be made for their safe transfer to India," the federal Department of Justice said in an email Wednesday.

The transfer will happen by Jan. 25, according to the email.

Malkit Sidhu and Badesha are accused of planning Jassi Sidhu's murder because she ignored the family's wishes and married a poor rickshaw driver.

Jassi Sidhu, 25, had her throat slit and body dumped in a canal after she and her new husband were attacked by a group of armed men during a trip to India in 2000.

Her mother and uncle were ordered extradited to India to face charges of conspiracy to commit murder in 2017. But the extradition was brought to an abrupt halt as they were boarding the plane to Delhi, after their lawyers filed a last-minute application to keep them in the country.

Their lawyers asked for a review of former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould's decision to surrender the pair. Lawyer Michael Klein said Wilson-Raybould hadn't considered new evidence on prison conditions in India.

The B.C. Court of Appeal rejected the application on Dec. 11. A panel of judges found Wilson-Raybould's conduct amounted to an abuse of process, but that her actions did not warrant a stay of proceedings given the gravity of the accusations.