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Informist, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026

 

--SC rejects gangster Abu Salem's plea for release in Bombay blasts case 

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court Thursday rejected gangster Abu Salem's plea seeking release from prison on argument that he had completed the maximum sentence of 25 years, computed by taking into account his detention as an undertrial, post-conviction incarceration, and earned jail remissions. The apex court upheld the Bombay High Court's Apr. 15 order that had said Salem was yet to complete the 25-year sentence imposed by the Supreme Court in the Bombay blasts case. 

 

The high court had said that Salem was not entitled to any reduction of sentence below the minimum period of 25 years by invoking either the Maharashtra Prisons (Remission System) Rules, 1962, or Section 432 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Salem's petition for immediate release by incorporating earned remissions into the computation of the 25-year term is premature, misconceived, and devoid of merit, it had said. 

 

 

The serial bomb blasts in Bombay, now Mumbai, on Mar. 12, 1993, resulted in loss of lives, injuries to several innocent citizens, and destruction of property. Salem actively participated in transporting and distributing sophisticated arms and ammunition that were smuggled into the country in the beginning of 1993.

 

Salem was extradited from Portugal and brought to India in 2005. He was sentenced to life imprisonment by a court set up under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987, in two cases in 2015 and 2017. In 2022, the Supreme Court, in view of the sovereign assurance given by the Indian government to the Portuguese administration, commuted the life sentences to a total sentence of 25 years.  

 

On Salem's plea, the high court noted that Indian government had assured the government of Portugal when Salem and his wife were being extradited that it would exercise powers conferred by Indian laws to ensure that they do not face death penalty or imprisonment for a term beyond 25 years. However, there was no question of the sovereign assurance of 25 years being reduced further on account of remissions earned, it had said.

 

Salem's attempt to include "earned remissions" to shorten the 25-year cap is legally unsustainable, the high court had said. It is well settled that remission earned under prison rules is administrative in nature and does not "ipso facto" reduce the sentence imposed by a court, it had said. Challenging the high court's order, Salem had moved the apex court.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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