Court issues notice to Delhi CP in Salem case

The Special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) court on Wednesday issued notice to the Commissioner of Police, Delhi and the Lajpat Nagar police station, Delhi, on their demand to seek custody of 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Abu Salem in a case registered with them, even though the said crime was not included in the list of crimes mentioned in the extradition order of Portugal’s ministry of justice.

The court has asked them to respond to the notice on or before July 12.

On July 4, Delhi police had approached the court seeking custody of Salem in a case registered in Lajpat Nagar police station in 1998. The defence had, however, objected to this and claimed that as per the extradition order dated March 28, 2003, the offence registered with the Delhi police does not appear in the list of nine cases found admissible in the extradition order of the ministry of justice, the government of Portugal, for the extradition of Salem to India.

“Thus necessary explanation be called as to why in spite of the order of the court, the Delhi Police is seeking his custody,” reads the application filed by the defence.

Meanwhile, the defence initiated its arguments on the quantum of punishment which the CBI had sought for the convicts in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case.

Advocate Sudeep Pasbola, while arguing on punishment for Tahir Merchant, said, “The role of Tahir should not be compared to the role of Yakub Memon as he did not have control in the gang in respect to the hatched conspiracy. He was not present in any of the conspiracy meetings. Rather he was the man of the lowest rung and was not a mastermind in causing a blast.”

Speaking about Tahir being an absconder, Pasbola contended, “Self-preservation is the natural reflex for a human being, so being an absconder is not an aggravating circumstance against him. Thus minimum punishment should be awarded to the convicts.”