The city police on Thursday told the Delhi high court that not dropping charges under the stringent MCOCA against underworld don Abu Salem, whose extradition to the country has been terminated by a Portuguese high court, will harm the reputation of India at the international fora.
“We will spoil our credibility at international fora and this (case) will be cited as an example to show that this country does not follow it own commitments,” additional solicitor-general (ASG) Haren Raval, appearing for Delhi police, told Justice V.K. Shali.
The court reserved the judgement on the plea of the city police seeking withdrawal of the stringent charges under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against Salem. The Delhi police had sought an urgent hearing of its plea after a Portugese high court terminated Abu Salem’s extradition on the ground that India had “violated” the doctrine of speciality by invoking fresh MCOCA charges against him in violation of the extradition terms.
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Pranab, UK minister talk on the phone
AGE CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, FEB. 9
Amidst a row sparked by some MPs from Britain’s Conservative party demanding an end of aid to India due to loss of a multi-million dollar MMRCA fighter-jet deal to France, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and UK’s secretary of state for international development Andrew Mitchell held telephonic conversation on Thursday and expressed satisfaction over developmental cooperation.
During the conversation, Mr Mukherjee said that India and UK share historical ties and have warm and friendly relations. “The relationship between the two countries has been strengthened further by the Indo-UK Bilateral Development Cooperation Programme which is mutually beneficial to the two countries. The two ministers expressed satisfaction with the progress of developmental cooperation activities and also appreciated the recently introduced component of private sector development initiatives through government sponsored institutions,” said a statement issued by the finance ministry.
Both the leaders also discussed the recent media reports in UK regarding the India-UK Development Cooperation Partnership. India and UK had mutually agreed in July, 2011 to continue the Bilateral Development Cooperation Programme in India till 2014-15.
