The Delhi High Court on Friday said the habeas corpus plea by extradited gangster Abu Salem, serving life imprisonment for his role in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, was not made out, as as he was found guilty in the case by a court of law.
A Bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani stated that once a court of law held Salem guilty, he could not say that the custody was illegal. Referring to a Supreme Court judgement, the Bench observed, “even if initially your detention was bad in law, after your conviction by a court of law, your custody does not remain illegal”.
The High Court’s remarks came while hearing Salem’s plea seeking to declare his detention in India as illegal and that he be repatriated to Portugal in view of conventions governing the field and the treaty conditions.
A habeas corpus petition is filed seeking a direction to produce a person who is missing or illegally detained.
Transporting weapons
In June 2017, Salem was convicted and later awarded life sentence for his role in the 1993 serial blasts case. Salem was found guilty of transporting weapons from Gujarat to Mumbai ahead of the blasts.
The High Court remarked, “a writ of habeas corpus does not lie in this case. It lied when your custody is illegal but here it is not”. It will hear the plea again on November 29.
Salem has sought to set aside his detention, saying the extradition was done on various assurances that have been violated and his custody became illegal.
The plea stated that he was extradited in 2002 and had been languishing in jail since then and there was no hope that the pending appeals would be decided anytime soon. On October 27, the Supreme Court refused to grant bail to Salem in murder case.
