The Supreme Court on July 11 held that the Centre was “bound to advise” the President of India to remit the life sentence of gangster Abu Salem in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case on his completion of 25 years of his jail term in view of the national commitment made to Portugal during his extradition.
The 25-year period would be calculated from his detention on October 12, 2005. “On the appellant [Salem] completing 25 years of his sentence, the Central government is bound to advise the President for the exercise of his powers under Article 72 of the Constitution and to release the appellant in terms of the national commitments and the principles based on the comity of courts,” Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, heading the Bench, ordered in the judgment.
The papers should be forwarded to the President within a month of Salem completing the 25-year period.
