SC dismisses Abu Salem’s plea seeking premature release from jail

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the plea filed by 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Abu Salem challenging his continued incarceration and seeking release on the ground that he had completed the maximum 25year sentence after taking into account his undertrial detention and jailearned remissionA Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta dismissed the petition after hearing the matter which had been reserved for judgment on July 27Salem had claimed that his undertrial detention postconviction incarceration and jailearned remission should be taken into account while computing the 25year sentence entitling him to release in view of the extradition assurance given by India to Portugal news agency IANS reportedAbu Salem currently lodged in Nashik Road Central Prison had approached the Supreme Court against the Bombay High Courts refusal to direct his immediate releaseWhat did the Bombay High Court sayThe Bombay High Court in its judgment pronounced on April 15 dismissed Salems plea holding that the 25year period fixed by the Supreme Court could not be reduced by ordinary prison remissionsThe High Court held that the 25year term constituted the substantive sentence that Salem was required to undergo and was not a ceiling capable of reduction by application of ordinary prison remissionsA Division Bench of Justices AS Gadkari and Kamal Khata further held that Salems attempt to include earned remissions to shorten the 25year period was legally unsustainableAbu Salems extradition to IndiaSalem was extradited from Portugal and brought to India in November 2005 He was arrested and produced before the TADA Court on November 11 2005 in connection with the 1993 Mumbai blasts caseHe was convicted in TADA Case No 1 of 2006 in February 2015 and sentenced to life imprisonment He was subsequently convicted in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case in September 2017 and sentenced to life imprisonment with both sentences ordered to run concurrentlyThe Supreme Court while upholding his convictions in July 2022 commuted the life sentences to a total sentence of 25 years in view of the solemn sovereign assurance given by the Government of India to Portugal that Salem would not be subjected to imprisonment beyond 25 yearsThe apex court had also directed the government to consider remission under Sections 432 and 433 of the CrPC one month prior to completion of the 25year periodWhy did Abu Salem seek early releaseBefore the Bombay High Court Salem claimed that he had earned nearly three years of remission for good conduct and that after accounting for his undertrial detention and postconviction incarceration he had completed the 25year periodHowever the High Court held that remission earned under prison rules is administrative in nature and does not ipso facto reduce the sentence imposed by a CourtIt further observed that the 25year period would expire in November 2030 reckoning it from his arrest on November 11 2005There is no question the sovereign assurance of 25 years being further reduced on account of remissions earned the Bombay High Court saidIt also held that any exercise of statutory remission or reduction below the 25year period could be considered only in accordance with the Supreme Courts directions adding that the executives duty to pass formal remission orders arises one month before completion of the said periodEarlier Salem approached the Supreme Court seeking premature release in terms of the extradition arrangement between India and PortugalIn February the top court had allowed him to withdraw that plea with liberty to seek an early hearing of the pending matter before the Bombay High CourtSalem was extradited from Portugal to India in November 2005 and was subsequently convicted in two cases arising out of the 1993 Mumbai blasts He was sentenced to life imprisonment in both cases with the sentences ordered to run concurrentlyIn July 2022 the Supreme Court while upholding his convictions restricted his imprisonment to 25 years in view of the sovereign assurance given to PortugalWith IANS inputs