New DelhiThe Supreme Court on Wednesday sought response of the Center on a petition filed by gangster Abu Salem, seeking his jail term as per the terms of the extradition treaty between India and Portugal. The punishment cannot exceed 25 years. Salem is serving a life sentence for his role in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case.
A bench of Justices SK Kaul and MM Sundaresh gave the Center four weeks to respond to Salem’s plea. The petition claimed that the TADA court’s 2017 decision to sentence Salem to life imprisonment was against the terms of the extradition treaty.
The petition said, “The Government of India has given an assurance in the Supreme Court of Portugal that the appellant will not be punished for more than 25 years. This assurance was part of the judicial proceedings and an extradition order was passed on it. This assurance was grossly violated by the TADA court awarding life imprisonment for certain offences.”
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Advocate Rishi Malhotra, appearing for Salem, submitted that the life sentence to Salem was against the assurance given by the Indian government to Portugal from where he was extradited. The counsel argued that even though the TADA court had said that it was not bound by the government’s assurance, the apex court has the power to decide the issue.
A special TADA court had on February 25, 2015 sentenced Salem to life imprisonment in another case of murder of Mumbai builder Pradeep Jain along with his driver Mehndi Hassan in 1995. The sentence of Virendra Jhamb, another accused in the case, was adjusted with the time spent in jail during various phases of the investigation.
According to the police, on March 7, 1995, Jain was shot dead by the assailants outside his Juhu bungalow after he allegedly refused to give part of his property to Salem. Salem, convicted of the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, was extradited from Portugal on November 11, 2005 after a long legal battle.(Agency)