Warrant

The EAW provides for the surrender from one EU Member State to another of those accused or convicted of crimes. It replaced existing extradition proceedings between Member States and was designed to speed up and simplify the transfer of suspected criminals and fugitives. Under the provisions of the Lisbon Treaty, the UK had the option to opt out of all of the pre-Lisbon Treaty EU justice and home affairs legislation. In October 2012, the Government confirmed that it would make use of this provision to opt out of approximately 130 measures and that it would seek to opt back into 35, including the EAW. On 1 December 2014 the UK's opt-out will come into effect (though negotiations are underway to extend that deadline on a transitional basis to 7 December). If the UK has not opted back in by this date, it will no longer be part of the EAW scheme. The issue of the UK's opt-in, and the EAW in particular, has become an increasingly political topic and entwined with arguments about the EU more generally. The evidence session covered a number of issues relating to the EAW. It juxtaposed the two political arguments on this controversial issue by hearing from Baroness Ludford, in favour of opting in and working to improve the legislation and Jacob Rees-Mogg MP, who opposes the opt-in, calling for an alternative system that is not coming under the competence of the European Union and it remains a matter of UK law.

What is life like inside Asia’s largest prison? What happens when a man is hanged, but his pulse refuses to give up even after two hours? Did Nirbhaya’s rapist, Ram Singh, commit suicide or was he murdered? For the first time we have a riveting account from an insider who has spent close to four decades as an officer at Tihar Jail during some of the most turbulent times in Indian political history. For the first time he breaks his silence about all he’s seen – from the first man he met in Tihar, Charles Sobhraj, to the controversies surrounding former CBI head, Alok Verma. Responsible for carrying out ‘Black Warrants’, Gupta witnessed 14 hangings, the most recent and his last, being that of Afzal Guru. Joining him is award-winning journalist Sunetra Choudhury whose recent book Behind Bars is a bestseller and took her deep inside the maze of prisons. Read this book for the most intimate and raw account of India’s judicial and criminal justice system.