Abu Salem claims that the Indian authorities violated the extradition treaty
The Supreme Court declined to hear a plea by 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Abu Salem today, who claimed his extradition from Portugal in 2005 was illegal and liable to be cancelled because of alleged breach of terms by Indian authorities.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde asked Salem to approach the Bombay High Court.
"Why should we exercise petition under Article 32? Petitioner can move appropriate High Court," the bench said.
Abu Salem also wanted to be transferred from Maharashtra's Taloja jail to Tihar jail in Delhi to speak to his lawyer and get some documents.
The 50-year-old gangster is serving a life sentence after being convicted in the 1993 Mumbai blasts that had killed 257 people and injured over 700. He has also been sentenced to seven years rigorous imprisonment in a 2002 extortion case.
His petition said that a court in Portugal's Lisbon has terminated his extradition and his detention in India is illegal. Salem had been extradited from Portugal on November 11, 2005, after a marathon legal battle. He has escaped the death sentence because India, to bring him back to face trial, guaranteed to the Portuguese that he would not be hanged.
He claims that the Indian authorities violated the extradition treaty.
In April last year, a Lisbon court dismissed his petition claiming that his extradition conditions were violated by India.