Namibia okays extradition

BHUBANESWAR: The state government's request for extradition of a French national, wanted in a paedophile case in Puri, has been granted by a court in Namibia, where he was arrested in June.
The accused, Mathieu Nicolas Furic, was booked in December 2013 for allegedly having unnatural sex with minor boys on the beach. "A Namibian court has permitted Furic's extradition.Two police officers from Sea Beach police station in Puri will go to the African country to bring him to Odisha," said an officer of the home department.
Earlier this year, Puri police approached the Namibia government through CBI and Interpol, seeking 46-year-old Furic's extradition. According to procedures, the matter was placed in the foreign court, which granted permission after going through the FIR, related documents and evidence, furnished by Puri police.
On December 2 last year, James Foster Gorman, a former military officer from Topeka in the USA, filed a complaint with Sea Beach police that Furic allegedly had sex with some children on Penthakota beach on November 26.
Furic was booked under Sections 18 and 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, 341 (wrongful restraint), 323 (causing hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC.
Gorman produced a video clip, containing his conversation with the victims, to the police. Police then raided the hotel where Furic checked in, but he had by then left Puri.
"This is perhaps the first such extradition permission granted in favour of India in the recent past as several such requests by different states were rejected by many countries," said Vidya Reddy of Tulir - Centre for the Prevention and Healing of Child Sexual Abuse (CPHCSA), a voluntary organization.