[BREAKING] Supreme Court says Central government should release Abu Salem on completion of 25 years imprisonment

The Supreme Court on Monday held that gangster Abu Salem convicted in the 1993 Bombay blasts case has to be released by the Central government upon completion of 25 years imprisonment as per the terms of an extradition treaty between India and Portugal [Abu Salem v. State of Maharashtra]..A Bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MM Sundresh held that the Court cannot commute the sentence as was prayed for, but Central government is bound exercise its remission powers to release Salem as per the treaty."On the appellant completing 25 years of sentence, the Central Government is bound to advice the President of India for exercise of his powers under Article 72 of the Constitution, and to release the appellant in terms of the national commitment as well as the principle based on comity of courts. In view thereof, the necessary papers be forwarded within a month of the period of completion of 25 years sentence of the appellant. In fact, the Government can itself exercise this power in terms of Sections 432 and 433 of the CrPC," the Court held.On the completion of 25 years, the Central government is to advise the President of India to release Salem, the Court added.It added that such an exercise must be completed within a month of completion of the sentence, reasoning that "there is a necessity of making this time bound so that it does not result in an unending exercise".The Court, however, made it clear that it cannot commute or restrict the period of sentence."We do believe that looking into the grievousness of the offence in which the appellant was involved, there is no question for this Court exercising any special privileges to commute or restrict the period of sentence of the appellant. In fact, different States in India have followed different patterns before even a case for remission is considered," the judgment said. .The Court also made it clear that Salem's detention period in Portugal in relation to a passport fraud case cannot be considered as part of the 25-year term. "It cannot be lost sight that when reference is made in a set off for adjustment of periods, the reference is to proceedings within the country. The criminal law of the land does not have any extra-territorial application. Thus, what happens in another country for some other trial, some other detention, in our view, would not be relevant for the purposes of the proceedings in the country. The factual scenario is that the appellant was charged with having a fake passport. He was found guilty and convicted of sentence from 18.09.2002. This had nothing to do with the proceedings against him in India," the judgment noted..Salem had claimed that the 2017 judgment of a Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) Court sentencing him to life imprisonment was against the terms of treaty between India and Portugal.Over the course of the hearing, the top court had questioned why the plea was raised two months before the completion of 25 years.Salem had also argued that the period of imprisonment must be considered from the date of detention in Portugal after the issuance of the Red Corner Notice (non-bailable warrants) and not from the date of completion of extradition by India..On December 17, 2002, that Government of India had given an assurance to the Government of Portugal that if Salem is extradited for trial in India, he would neither be given the death penalty nor would he be subjected to imprisonment for a term beyond 25 years, Salem's plea stated.It was argued that regardless of the fact that the TADA Court had held that it was not bound by the assurances of the government, the top court indeed has the power to rule on the same and grant relief.The plea was opposed by the Central government through Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj, who submitted that the period undergone by Salem as an undertrial in Portugal for a case related to passport fraud cannot be considered for computation of 25 years of imprisonment.After a long-drawn extradition battle with Portugal, Salem was brought to India in 2005 and sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the 1993 blasts that rocked Mumbai.Last year, the Supreme Court had refused to entertain a plea filed by the gangster claiming that his extradition to India was illegal.The Central government had informed the Supreme Court that it was bound by the assurance it gave to Portugal and would abide by it at an appropriate time, but the plea by Salem was premature. Salem's attempt to club the merits of the case with the assurance was legally untenable, it was stated in the affidavit..Advocates Rishi Malhotra appeared for the appellant. [Read Judgment]