HC junks Salem’s plea seeking release after ‘completion’ of 25-year jail term, calls it misconceived

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday dismissed gangster Abu Salem’s plea for immediate release as “premature and misconceived”, even as he claimed to have served 25 years in jail in India as mandated under the terms of his extradition from Portugal.

A bench of Justices A S Gadkari and Kamal Khata in its order noted that the 25-year jail term constitutes the substantive sentence which Salem is required to undergo.

“It is not a ceiling capable of reduction by application of ordinary prison remissions,” HC said.

The bench further held that since Salem was arrested in November 2005 after his extradition from Portugal, a simple calculation would show that his 25-year jail term would expire in November 2030.

“The petitioner’s (Salem) contention that he is entitled to release in 2025 is based on a flawed aggregation of remissions. The remissions cannot be applied to reduce the fixed 25-year threshold applied as a result of the extradition treaty,” HC said.

In his plea, 49-year-old Salem, lodged at the Nashik central prison, had contended that if remission for good behaviour is included, then his 25-year jail term is complete and hence he ought to be freed.

The court, however, noted that it would be premature to say anything at this stage on the point of remission.

The court relied on a Supreme Court judgment wherein it was held that remission of a prisoner would need to be calculated a month before the applicant’s release.

“The petitioner’s (Salem’s) attempt to include earned remissions to shorten the 25-year cap is legally unsustainable,” the court said, terming it “premature and misconceived”.

The 25-year limit itself functions as a massive remission to a life sentence, necessitated by international treaty obligations, HC said, dismissing Salem’s plea.

Salem’s plea, filed through advocate Farhana Shah, had said that when he was extradited from Portugal in 2005, India had assured that he would not be handed over the death penalty in any case and that he would not be imprisoned for more than 25 years.

The government had opposed his plea, noting that Salem had spent only 19 years in jail and that a decision on his premature release was pending.

The government said the 25-year jail term refers to actual incarceration and does not include the remission period.

Salem was convicted in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts case and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was also sentenced to life imprisonment in another case.

In 2022, the Supreme Court upheld his convictions but commuted the life sentences to a total sentence of 25 years in view of the assurance given by the Indian government to the Portuguese government.

The apex court had also then directed the government to consider remission to Salem.