File affidavit on Salem's plea for release: SC to home secy

Pulling up the central government for being "evasive", the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed Union home secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla to submit a personal affidavit on whether gangster Abu Salem will be released after serving 25 years behind bars, as promised in 2002 by then deputy prime minister and home minister LK Advani to the courts in Portugal.

- Utkarsh Anand

NEW DELHI: A bench headed by justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul pointed out that it is for the Centre to take an unequivocal stand regarding Salem's length of incarceration, as it rejected the affidavit filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which emphasized that an Indian court is not bound by Advani's assurance that Salem would neither be sent to the gallows nor imprisoned beyond 25 years after his extradition to the country.

The court was hearing a challenge by Salem to two life sentences he has been handed; CBI's affidavit made the fine point that the assurance was on execution and imprisonment beyond 25 years, not whether an Indian court would sentence Salem to a period exceeding 25 years.

"This (CBI's) is not the affidavit we wanted. CBI is just a prosecuting agency and it cannot comment on the sovereign assurance given by the Government of India. When there is a commitment by the Government of India to a foreign country, they have to take a stand. Is the government saying that we won't stand by our commitment? If that is the stand, let them say so," the bench, also including justice MM Sundresh, told additional solicitor general (ASG) KM Nataraj.

"The question is that your deputy PM took a stand before a foreign country at the time of the extradition. It is now for the Union of India to say if it stands by the commitment or not. The whole problem is you want to avoid taking a stand...you want to evade but we won't let you...," the court outrightly told Nataraj.