Denmark should get the message on Kim Davy

After seeking the extradition of Kim Davy, prime accused in the Purulia arms drop case wanted by the CBI for trial in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi should make it clear to Denmark that the issue is not negotiable. It looks like the Modi Sarkar wanted the world to know that the Danish government should expect no quarter on this issue. Modi not only raised the issue with Danish Energy Minister Lars Christian Lilleholt during ‘Vibrant Gujarat’ on January 10, but also ensured that what he did was widely publicised. 

Be it the G-20, BRICS or Heart of Asia summit, Modi never fails to raise the issue of terrorism. True to form, he put to good use the Danish minister’s presence at ‘Vibrant Gujarat’ to impress that Copenhagen’s dilly-dallying in this matter would not be countenanced. There is much significance in the Prime Minister, particularly Modi, raising the issue. The case dates back to December 1995. Kim Davy, alias Neils Holck, was involved in illegally dropping hundreds of AK-47 rifles, pistols, anti-tank grenades and rocket launchers, and thousands of rounds of ammunition from an Antonov AN-26 military plane in Bengal’s Purulia district. Six of the flight crew — five Latvians and a Briton — were arrested, but Davy escaped.

In 2011, the Danish High Court’s five-judge bench said “No” to the CBI’s plea for extradition on the ground that “there is a concrete and real risk that Davy will be subjected to torture or any other inhuman treatment in violation of Danish laws.” This was the second time a Danish court had rescued Davy. Initially, Copenhagen accepted New Delhi’s request to extradite Davy on the condition that he would be spared the death sentence; and, if sentenced, he will be imprisoned in Denmark and not India. However, a lower court stopped the extradition and the high court upheld it. The Danish government did not pursue it any further, giving rise to the suspicion that it was complicit in ‘protecting’ Davy from being sent to India for trial.

Reacting to the developments, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) expressed ‘great disappointment’ and said that refusal to extradite Davy would have ‘grave and far-reaching’ implications. The MEA pointedly said that bilateral relations would be based on ‘the strict principle of reciprocity’. Over the next few years, Denmark did not budge to appeal against the court order. The MEA consigned it to the diplomatic doghouse. Piqued Danish diplomats resorted to political games in 2012. To show their displeasure against the Congress-led Centre, they courted Modi — who as Gujarat Chief Minister was shunned by much of the diplomatic community from 2002 to 2012. 

When Modi became Prime Minister in 2014, Denmark expected the case to be dropped and relations to become normal again. But, Denmark continued to be isolated. Its Prime Minister was denied a visa to attend the Vibrant Gujarat event in 2015. This visa denial was listed among the “sins” of Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh, which allegedly incurred Modi’s wrath. Yet nearly two years after S Jaishankar took charge to become India’s most powerful Foreign Secretary in recent decades, there’s no sign of MEA ending Denmark’s diplomatic isolation. In December 2016, India sent a fresh request for Davy’s extradition. Less than a month later, the Prime Minister has raised the issue with a visiting Danish minister. The message being driven home by the MEA, the Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister Modi is that Denmark will have to deliver Davy and, regardless of the political party in government, there will be no diplomatic compromise on India’s core concerns. 

The author, a New Delhi-based independent political and foreign affairs commentator, has worked as Guest Editor with leading dailies in Denmark. He was also invited as Global Personality to Denmark’s Images of the World-2000 Festival.