On July 5, 1984 Parminder Singh Saini and four accomplices hijacked an Air India flight 20 minutes after it departed Srinagar. Saini fired a handgun in the direction of a steward narrowly missing him. He then shot two or three times at the aircraft’s cockpit door with one of the rounds hitting the flight engineer in the back.

He ordered the pilot to land in Pakistan and kept everybody hostage as he attempted to negotiate a list of demands over the next 20 hours. After thoroughly terrorizing the passengers he eventually surrendered.

When the case went to trial Saini was convicted and sentenced to hang. The sentence was later reduced to life in prison with Saini being released after 10 years on the condition he leave the country. He chose Canada as his new home.

Carrying a fake Afghan passport, Saini introduced himself to Canadian customs officials as Balbir Singh. The date was Jan. 21, 1995. He stated he did not have a criminal record and had no family here. He then went to live with his mother and brother in Brampton, Ontario. He was discovered by CSIS eight months later and was ordered deported. Saini would spend the next 15 years fighting that deportation order.

In 2001, the Federal Court of Appeal agreed he should be deported overturning an earlier decision by the Federal Court to quash the deportation order. In two separate reviews he was deemed to be a threat. In fact, the immigration department to this day considers him a “danger to the public”.

While the struggle to stay in Canada continued, Saini used his time here to educate himself earning three university degrees. His dream was to practice law. He articled at a Brampton law firm and a Toronto immigration law firm.

A couple of weeks ago Saini lost his bid to practice law with the Law Society of Upper Canada referring to him as “not of good character”.

“While Mr. Saini has shown an ability to obtain (three) university degrees and has impressed a number of people, we are still left with a number of serious concerns,” wrote Ottawa lawyer William Simpson for the panel that heard the application in September.

In his defence Saini blamed youth for his actions in 1984. In fact, he told the Law Society of Upper Canada,

“I had no legitimate right to do that. It’s not legal.”

Indeed.

The struggle finally came to an end a week ago when yet another attempt in Federal Court to delay the deportation order failed and he was promptly arrested.

Escorted by Canadian security agents, Parminder Singh Saini landed in New Delhi where he was arrested by local police under the National Security Act. He is currently in jail there.

I have but one question. Here is an individual that exhibited violent behaviour and was convicted of hijacking. He lied to immigration officials about his identity as well as his past. He presented a phony passport. He was considered a national security threat while he was here. Why did it take 15 years to get rid of him?

Credits:
Photo – Tara Walton/Toronto Star
Quotes – www.thestar.com
www.mississauga.com

Of course Mr. Wu has since retained legal counsel and is in the process of launching a civil action against the city of Vancouver.

But this whole episode has left me asking a bigger philosophical question, “what if Mr. Wu was the right guy”? Everyone familiar with this story is appalled by what happened and rightly so. But what if the Vancouver police had the right guy? Does the end justify the means?

Let’s take a look at another case, this one here in Winnipeg. Last February then 18 year old Cody Bousquet stole a Ford half ton parked in front of a downtown bar sparking a high speed police chase. During the chase he rammed a police car, drove across a busy sidewalk and crashed into a parked car and light standard. He was eventually arrested on Notre Dame Ave. Please have a look at the video below.

As you can see it appears as if Mr. Bousquet is in the process of surrendering. Because of this video most of the charges against the accused have been dropped. He was sentenced to 11 months time served for two counts of assaulting a peace officer and one count of operating a motor vehicle in a dangerous manner. As well he will have two years of supervised probation.

The RCMP have been called in to investigate how the arrest in the video above was handled.

In this case the suspect is guilty after having been convicted of a couple of charges. There can be no denying his actions were dangerous. Leading police on a high speed chase is foolish and could have tragic consequences. Luckily no one was injured even when he drove across the busy sidewalk. In this case the police had the “right guy”.

So I ask again does the end justify the means? I think we can all agree that the beating suffered by Yao Wei Wu at the hands of the police is wrong and should never have happened. In the case of Cody Bousquet, is it okay that he was beaten because he is guilty? Is the only factor determining the validity of the actions of the police the supposed guilt or innocence of the suspect? In other words, is the beating suffered by Yao Wei Wu wrong because he is innocent of any wrongdoing while the beating of Cody Bousquet is justified because he is guilty?

Credits:
Photo provided by Ming Pao newspaper (www.mingpaovan.com)
Video courtesy Winnipeg Free Press (www.winnipegfreepress.com)