New Delhi, July 05: A Delhi court today heard the bail plea of extradited gangster Abu Salem in a 12-year-old case of alleged extortion in which he has sought his release on the statutory ground that he has been in jail for more than the prescribed sentence for the offence.
“The accused deserved to be released on bail on this ground alone that he has spent more than three years in jail, which is more than the prescribed punishment for the offence of extortion,” Arvind Shukla, appearing for Salem, told Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kiran Bansal.
“The section 436A of the CrPC has been inserted for granting bail to an accused who has completed half of maximum period of imprisonment specified under the law,” he said.
–Agencies