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Can’t bargain on escort charges for parole, don’t go if you can’t pay: Bombay HC to Abu Salem
The HC on January 28 had sought response from advocate Farhana Shah representing Salem, who was extradited from Portugal in 2005, as to whether he can pay escort charges if granted 4-day parole.
"The state charges you have to pay. Don't go (on parole), if you cannot pay. This is not question of bargaining. It is for the state machinery to decide, " the HC orally told Salem.
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday said that Abu Salem, convicted in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case, who has sought emergency parole citing his elder brother’s death, “cannot bargain” on payment of escort charges. This came after Salem’s lawyer said that he was unable to pay escort charges of over Rs. 1 lakh if granted 4-day parole.
A bench comprising of Justices Ajey S Gadkari and Shyam C Chandak was hearing plea by Salem, who was arrested on November 24, 2005, and was convicted in the 1993 blasts case in September 2017. He was also convicted in Portugal for travelling on a fake passport.
The state government’s prison authorities had submitted that Salem could at most be released on a two-day parole with police escort (charges to be paid by him) to visit Saraimir village in Uttar Pradesh’s Azamgarh district, a “communally sensitive” area, to meet his family following the death of his elder brother, Abu Hakim Ansari, in November last year.
The HC on January 28 had sought response from advocate Farhana Shah representing Salem, who was extradited from Portugal in 2005, as to whether he can pay escort charges if granted 4-day parole.
Shah had then argued that Salem was “not in a position to pay “very high” escort charges”due to his financial considerations and so many years in custody.”
On Tuesday, Shah told the HC that her client cannot pay beyond Rs. 1 lakh towards escort charges while the estimated charges were of nearly 17.76 lakh and he should be granted urgent relief since several days had passed since his brother’s death.
She also claimed that Salem was earlier allowed to visit his native place in Azamgarh district in Uttar Pradesh to attend his mother’s funeral in 2007 without any demand of payment of escort charges. She claimed that escort of 25 police personnel will be provided while the petitioner may actually need 10 such personnel.
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“The state charges you have to pay. Don’t go (on parole), if you cannot pay. This is not question of bargaining. It is for the state machinery to decide, ” the HC orally told Salem.
The court then asked Shah to take further instructions from Salem whether he wanted to withdraw the plea since he is unable to pay escort charges, after which it can pass appropriate orders on Thursday, February 5.
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