19 September 1995
DR JOHN FLYNN
I am delighted with this evening's news that the High Court of India has quashed Dr John Flynn's detention under India's Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act.
The judgment that the detention under that Act was invalid and unconstitutional is a vindication of the Indian legal system - which as recently as this afternoon I was being invited by Dr Flynn's lawyer and Public Relations firm in Australia to challenge in a head-on and confrontational way.
My understanding is that Dr Flynn will remain in hospital pending his bail application in relation to the proceedings he is facing under India's Customs Act. There appear to be reasonable grounds for confidence that such application will be successful.
This case has, from the outset, been an extraordinarily complex one in which multiple avenues of legal application and appeal have been available. We have been trying to pick our way through a minefield. Australian Government officials have been assiduous, as I said in the Senate today, in trying to assist Dr Flynn with both his medical and legal problems in every possible way that might be helpful rather than counter-productive.
I hope, but don't expect, that there may be slightly less willingness in the future to rush to negative judgment about the Government's degree of commitment to its citizens in trouble abroad.
CANBERRA