New Delhi, Sep 10 — 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 25-year sentence after taking into account his undertrial detention and jail-earned remission.
A Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta dismissed the petition after hearing the matter, which had been reserved for judgment on July 27.
Salem had claimed that his undertrial detention, post-conviction incarceration and jail-earned remission should be taken into account while computing the 25-year sentence, entitling him to release in view of the extradition assurance given by India to Portugal.
Abu Salem, currently lodged in Nashik Road Central Prison, had approached the Supreme Court against the Bombay High Court's refusal to direct his immediate release.
The Bombay High Court, in its judgment pronounced on April 15, dismissed Salem's plea, holding that the 25-year period fixed by the Supreme Court could not be reduced by ordinary prison remissions.
The High Court had held that the 25-year term constituted the substantive sentence that Salem was required to undergo and was "not a ceiling capable of reduction by application of ordinary prison remissions".
A Division Bench of Justices A.S. Gadkari and Kamal Khata further held that Salem's attempt to include "earned remissions" to shorten the 25-year period was "legally unsustainable".
Salem 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 case. He 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 concurrently.
The 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 years.
The 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 25-year period.
Before 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 post-conviction incarceration, he had completed the 25-year period. However, 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 Court."
It further observed that the 25-year period would expire in November 2030, reckoning it from his arrest on November 11, 2005. "There is no question the sovereign assurance of 25 years being further reduced on account of remissions earned," the Bombay High Court said.
It also held that any exercise of statutory remission or reduction below the 25-year period could be considered only in accordance with the Supreme Court's directions, adding that the executive's duty to pass formal remission orders arises one month before completion of the said period.
Earlier, Salem approached the Supreme Court seeking premature release in terms of the extradition arrangement between India and Portugal.
In 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 Court.
Salem 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 concurrently. In July 2022, the Supreme Court, while upholding his convictions, restricted his imprisonment to 25 years in view of the sovereign assurance given to Portugal.