MUMBAI: The state government has informed the Bombay High Court that gangster Abu Salem Abdul Qayyum Ansari, one of the convicts in the March 1993 Mumbai serial bombings case, is not entitled to remission, a reduction in the length of time an inmate serves in jail.
In an affidavit filed on July 31, Aruna Mugutrao, superintendent of the Nashik central jail, stated that on July 14, the home department had passed an order stating that Salem was not entitled to remission and he should be released from jail only after serving his actual prison sentence of 25 years.
Salem was arrested in Lisbon, Portugal, on September 18, 2002, and handed over to India on November 10, 2005. He was brought to India the next day. Salem was sentenced to life imprisonment by a local court in September 2017, for his role in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts. While deciding his appeal, the Supreme Court held that Salem would be entitled to be released on completing a prison term of 25 years – in terms of the sovereign assurance given by India to Portugal at the time of his extradition.
The affidavit filed by Mugutrao stated that the home department had on July 14 passed an order, holding that Salem was otherwise liable to serve a prison term of 60 years, including remission. But in view of India’s sovereign assurance to Portugal, he should be released from jail on completing actual imprisonment of 25 years, excluding remissions.
Mugutrao clarified that the government decision, dated July 14, 2025, was passed in accordance with the International Agreement entered into between the Government of India and the Government of Portugal.
The affidavit was filed in response to a petition filed by Salem on February 3 through advocate Farhana Shah, stating that he would be completing a 25-year prison term, including remissions, on March 31, 2025, and therefore entitled to be released on that date. He claimed he was entitled to remissions – both general as well as special. He claimed that considering the remissions, he had completed 25 years of imprisonment by including time spent as an undertrial prisoner, and the regular and special remissions he had earned over the years since his extradition to India from Portugal.
His petition added that the Supreme Court had upheld his plea that he cannot be sentenced to more than 25 years in view of the solemn assurance given by the central government to their counterparts in Portugal.