Supreme Court reserves order on extension of Abu Salem's jail term
India Today
The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its order on the extension of Abu Salem's jail term beyond 25 years.
The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its order on a plea by criminal Abu Salem seeking India’s compliance with the undertaking it gave to Portugal that his sentence cannot extend 25 years from the time of his arrest in 2002. A bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and M M Sundresh reserved the order after a day-long hearing.
Rishi Malhotra, appearing as counsel for Salem told the bench,“Under Portugese law a person cannot be extradited if the punishment of the offence is more than 25 years, whereas in this case Abu Salem may be punished for death penalty."
“When the matter travelled to the Supreme Court of Portugal, the court said that we are restrained by the constitutional obligation, no one can be punished by the death penalty or imprisonment of indefinite period,” he added.
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Malhotra further said that these were the conditions on which Abu Salem was extradited. He argued that the government cannot turn around and impose life imprisonment on Salem now. He told the apex court that doing so would be a violation of the terms of the agreement and assurance given to Portugal.
He reminded the bench that the Supreme Court of Portugal had stated that if the requesting state (India) does not keep to the terms of the agreement, then the accused shall be extradited back.
Malhotra explained the circumstances of Salem’s arrest and said that the designated court under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) is not counting the 2 years when the extradition was being processed. Salem was arrested in Portugal in 2003 and was extradited to India in 2005. Malhotra said, “The TADA court has erroneously held that the detention served in Portugal will not be considered. This is something I have never come across.”