<p>Jailed underworld don Abu Salem, an accused in the March 12, 1993, Mumbai serial blasts case, on Monday expressed his readiness to marry a Thane-based woman who had approached the court seeking permission to wed the gangster.<br /><br /></p>.<p>“I humbly request to kindly consider (her application) and grant us permission to register and perform marriage under the Special Marriage Act before the registrar,” said Salem in his reply, filed before the special court set up under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, or TADA.<br /><br />“I also undertake to (take) care of her in all the respects once she gets married to me and she will not be further defamed as officially she will be my wife. I respect the feelings of the woman and also understand her position,” said Salem, now lodged in the high-security Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai.<br /><br />The woman, a resident of the Mumbra suburbs of Thane district, had approached Additional Sessions Judge G A Sanap of the special TADA court last week through her lawyer Farhana Shah.<br /><br />The girl stays with her mother, maternal grandfather and her elder brother, and is said to be a commerce graduate.<br /><br />She is the same woman who reportedly married Salem while he was being taken in a train to Lucknow. She said her life was ruined by the controversy generated by reports of the marriage, though no such marriage had taken place. She now wants to make the union formal.<br /><br />Salem had married Samira Jumani, a 17-year-old college girl, in 1991, and they had children. They subsequently divorced. Samira currently lives in the United States. <br />Salem was later involved with actor Monica Bedi. They were extradited to Mumbai from Portugal in 2005.</p>
<p>Jailed underworld don Abu Salem, an accused in the March 12, 1993, Mumbai serial blasts case, on Monday expressed his readiness to marry a Thane-based woman who had approached the court seeking permission to wed the gangster.<br /><br /></p>.<p>“I humbly request to kindly consider (her application) and grant us permission to register and perform marriage under the Special Marriage Act before the registrar,” said Salem in his reply, filed before the special court set up under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, or TADA.<br /><br />“I also undertake to (take) care of her in all the respects once she gets married to me and she will not be further defamed as officially she will be my wife. I respect the feelings of the woman and also understand her position,” said Salem, now lodged in the high-security Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai.<br /><br />The woman, a resident of the Mumbra suburbs of Thane district, had approached Additional Sessions Judge G A Sanap of the special TADA court last week through her lawyer Farhana Shah.<br /><br />The girl stays with her mother, maternal grandfather and her elder brother, and is said to be a commerce graduate.<br /><br />She is the same woman who reportedly married Salem while he was being taken in a train to Lucknow. She said her life was ruined by the controversy generated by reports of the marriage, though no such marriage had taken place. She now wants to make the union formal.<br /><br />Salem had married Samira Jumani, a 17-year-old college girl, in 1991, and they had children. They subsequently divorced. Samira currently lives in the United States. <br />Salem was later involved with actor Monica Bedi. They were extradited to Mumbai from Portugal in 2005.</p>
