New Delhi, October 06: Underworld don Abu Salem has approached Supreme Court in Portugal stating that India was violating extradition treaty by invoking stringent MCOCA charges against the gangster.
A petition on behalf of Salem, who is at present in Lucknow, was filed by his counsel Arvind Shukla after a Delhi Court refused to drop MCOCA charges against the gangster despite a petition moved by Delhi Police for the same.
Shukla told that he recommended to the UK-based law firm, that defended Salem in Portugal earlier, filing of a petition before the Supreme Court in Portugal about the violation of extradition treaty.
“The decision of the (Delhi) court was in total violation of the sovereign commitment made by India to Portugal and the extradition order passed by the Portuguese court as also the notification issued by the Portugal government,” Shukla said.
In October last year, when the MCOCA charges were brought in by Delhi and Mumbai Police, Portugal court had observed that in case there is any violation, India should revert the custody of Salem and Portuguese Government should in-principle not give any further custody of anyone as demanded by India.
Though the Union Home Ministry last year had asked Delhi as well as Mumbai Police to drop MCOCA charges slapped on Salem, a court in Delhi recently rejected the plea of city police saying that Portuguese courts were aware under what cases Salem was being extradited to India.
—Agencies