Abu Salem seeks court’s nod for marriage

Mumbai, July 17

Gangster Abu Salem, convicted last month in the Mumbai serial blasts case, on Monday moved a Mumbai court seeking parole or temporary bail for marriage.

Salem has submitted citations of two high courts claiming convicts were given such relief for entering into wedlock.

The mob boss had given his consent for marrying a 26- year-old woman who had approached the special TADA court in June 2015 seeking permission for it.

The TADA court here had convicted Salem and five others in June for their role in the serial bomb blasts of March 12, 1993, in which 257 people were killed.

“We have given the court two citations—one from the Bombay High Court and another from the Delhi High Court—stating that a person can be granted bail or parole for marriage,” said Salem’s lawyer Farhana Shah.

Salem has requested the court to grant him the permission to attend the office of the Registrar of Marriage.

“In view of the two citations, his (Salem’s) application seeking the permission to attend the (office of) the Registrar of Marriage for solemnisation of marriage be kindly considered,” Shah told the court.

The trial court Judge, GA Sanap, has asked the CBI to file its response to Salem’s petition.

“I humbly request to kindly consider (her application) and grant us permission to register and perform marriage under Special Marriage Act before the registrar,” Salem has said in his petition.

According to a 2015 report published in a local tabloid along with a photograph of the woman, Salem had married her ‘over phone’ during a train journey when he was being taken to Lucknow for a court hearing under police escort.

Following the report, the Tada court had directed the Thane Police to conduct an inquiry.

In her application, the woman had contended that following the news report that Salem had secretly married her, police asked many people about the alleged marriage and showed the photograph which sullied her character.

Since she was unable to marry anybody else now, she wanted to enter into wedlock with Salem, she had said.

Salem had said in his reply that he wanted to marry her so she could “meet and answer all the relatives, friends and well-wishers with her head up in the society”.

He said he intended to “compensate” the woman by accepting her proposal.

The CBI had earlier this month sought life imprisonment for Salem, convicted under stringent sections of the now-repealed TADA (Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act in the bomb blast case. — PTI