Abu Salem moves SC over ’93 blasts conviction

Mumbai underworld don Abu Salem alias Abdul Qayoom Ansari has moved the Supreme Court challenging the conviction and life term given to him under the stringent and now-defunct Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts case.

The bench of Justices NV Ramana and S Abdul Nazeer issued a notice and has sought a response from Maharashtra on the heels of this petition.

In his appeal, Salem alleges that the trial against him was conducted in an “illegal manner”. has relied upon a 2012 judgment from the Constitutional Court of Lisbon which had observed that the extradition agreement between the two countries - Portugal and India - stood terminated and ruled that Salem’s custody in India was illegal.

Once a key aide of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, Salem was extradited from Portugal in 2005 once the death penalty was taken off the table. The Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government then had agreed to this condition since Portugal has abolished death sentence.

In fact, the then Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, who was also Home Minister, had to send a written assurance on December 17, 2002, during the process of Salem’s extradition, to the Portuguese government that Salem would not be tried for any offence punishable with death. It was only after this assurance that the gangster was ultimately extradited on November 11, 2005.  Salem was extradited to India on the basis of eight cases – CBI (three cases), Mumbai Police (two cases) and Delhi Police (three cases). He was charged with supplying the arms and ammunition, including the deadly RDX, which was used in the 1993 blasts, along with a case involving capital murder.