‘Sir, I beg you for a second chance in life’

In the stack of petitions that pour into the Prime Minister’s Office came a curious one last month. Monica Bedi, one-time film actor an...

In the stack of petitions that pour into the Prime Minister’s Office came a curious one last month. Monica Bedi, one-time film actor and an accused waiting to be extradited to India has written a ‘‘desperate appeal’’ to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh requesting his intervention to stop her return for trial to India.

In a handwritten letter, a copy of which is with The Sunday Express, Bedi has said: ‘‘I fear if I return to India I will be interrogated, tortured, physically and mentally in connection with the accusations India have against Abu Salem…it will be impossible for me to live with all the hatred and threats surrounding me. I will always be living in fear and being a cinema actress, who is easily recognised, will make life even more difficult.’’

The PMO has forwarded Bedi’s letter to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). It was in September 2002 that she was detained in Lisbon along with Abu Salem since they were travelling on forged passports. Two months ago, the High Court there granted her extradition and sentenced her to two years imprisonment, a period which has already ended.

Bedi put in a final appeal in the Supreme Court of Portugal and CBI officials say they expect the court to reject it and that both will return home ‘‘any day’’ now.

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The letter to Manmohan Singh provides a rare first-person account by Bedi of her involvement with Abu Salem, wanted in the Mumbai bomb blast case.

Key excerpts:

‘‘I am a 29-year-old Indian citizen by birth originating from Hoshiarpur, Punjab. I belong to a respectable Punjabi family. In 1976, my family immigrated to Norway where they set up a trading business. I resided there for 16 years, then returned to India, alone, to start a career in the Indian film industry, where I worked for 8 years, starring in around 30 films.

‘‘In the latter period of this career, I was introduced to Arsalan Ali during a stage show in Dubai, supposedly a respected Pakistani businessman.

‘‘It was a long time after this first encounter that I discovered his real identity was Abu Salem, a married man and father.

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He had been married since 1991 and this situation is still the same to this day.

‘‘I am currently in prison in Portugal serving a 2-year sentence. I was arrested in September 2002 for the crime of using a false Indian passport. India have requested my extradition to answer to the same charge.

‘‘Sir, I admit my guilt in using the passport in Portugal, however I only committed this mistake as I was forced to by Abu Salem.

‘‘I strongly deny any involvement in obtaining or paying for the passport, my innocence being proved in the judicial system here in Portugal.

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‘‘Abu Salem was found to be guilty of obtaining the passport in Dubai for which he received a higher sentence. I never used the passport in India at any time.

‘‘I fear if I return to India I will be interrogated, tortured physically and mentally in connection with the accusations India have against Abu Salem.

‘‘Sir, I have no intelligence on these matters as I only associated with Salem for a very short time. In fact I had no idea of his existence at the time the alleged offences were carried out. In 1993 when the Mumbai bomb blast happened, I was only 18 years old.

‘‘I do not have anybody in India. I fear the Indian community who have publicly made death threats protesting, demanding that I be hung to death, misbelieving me.

	Monica’s journey

			• September 18, 2002: Detained along with Abu Salem in Lisbon • December 2002: Request for her extradition submitted to Government of Portugal • July 2, 2003: High Court, Lisbon refused her extradition • November 26, 2003: High Court, Lisbon granted her extradition. • March 25, 2004: On her appeal, Supreme Court, Lisbon remanded her case back to High Court to give reason for its findings. • July 14, 2004: High Court granted extradition on same terms. She was sentenced to two years imprisonment for possessing forged travel documents. Period of sentence ended on September 17, 2004 • She applied for asylum in Portugal. Her request was rejected by the executive authorities. Her appeal against extradition is pending in the Supreme Court of Portugal since July 2004 Story continues below this ad

‘‘Sir, it will be impossible for me to live with all the hatred and threats surrounding me. I will always be living in fear and being an cinema actress, who is easily recognised, will make life even more difficult.

‘‘I feel I am being persecuted because of Abu Salem.

‘‘I repeat I only knew him for a very short time, my time spent in his company was extremely difficult.

‘‘I am paying a heavy price for this, not only myself but my entire family are suffering as our reputation has been ruined. My mother’s health is rapidly failing due to her terminal illness and she is counting the days until I am home with her once more.

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‘‘This, I feel, will not be possible if I am returned to India as I fear the authorities will not permit me to leave the state nor will I be authorised a visa enabling me to return to my home in Norway.

‘‘With the stigma surrounding me I will have no chance of employment, nobody will want to associate themselves in my company, no security nor no future at all.

‘‘As I stated earlier, Salem forced me to agree to use the passport. Never before in my life have I committed any crime.

‘‘Sir, I admit that I cannot change the past but I am begging and pleading for you to help me gain a second chance in life by removing the extradition order currently in force for my return to India.

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‘‘I wish to return to my parents in Norway to continue a safe and peaceful life.

‘‘Desperately awaiting your response.’’

Ritu Sarin

Ritu Sarin is Executive Editor (News and Investigations) at The Indian Express group. Her areas of specialisation include internal security, money laundering and corruption. Sarin is one of India’s most renowned reporters and has a career in journalism of over four decades. She is a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) since 1999 and since early 2023, a member of its Board of Directors. She has also been a founder member of the ICIJ Network Committee (INC). She has, to begin with, alone, and later led teams which have worked on ICIJ’s Offshore Leaks, Swiss Leaks, the Pulitzer Prize winning Panama Papers, Paradise Papers, Implant Files, Fincen Files, Pandora Papers, the Uber Files and Deforestation Inc. She has conducted investigative journalism workshops and addressed investigative journalism conferences with a specialisation on collaborative journalism in several countries. ... Read More