In a development that may land Sanjay Dutt in fresh trouble, the Bombay High Court on Monday asked the Maharashtra Government to justify its decision to release the actor early from the prison in the 1993 serial blasts case.
Sanjay, who had spent nearly 18 months behind the bars in three stretches in the initial stages of his arrest on April 19, 1993 and was slated to serve the remaining 42 months’ jail term in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case, was released on February 25, 2016 earlier than the schedule, owing to what was described as 144-day remission granted to him by the jail administration as per the prison norms.
Sanjay was released from Pune’s Yerwada prison early on grounds of good conduct.
Curiously enough, the issue relating to the number of days that the actor was behind the bars and his early release from the prison was always under the realm of speculation. While one speculation had it Sanjay was released from the prison eight months earlier than his scheduled date of release, the actor’s lawyers said at the time of his release from incarceration that he had been granted 144-day remission by the jail authorities as per the prison norms.
Hearing a Public Interest litigation by Pune resident Pradeep Bhalekar challenging the regular paroles and furloughs granted to Dutt when he was serving his sentence, a HC division bench of justices RM Sawant and Sadhana Jadhav directed the State Government to file an affidavit stating what parameters were considered and the procedures followed while deciding that the actor deserved leniency.
“Was the DIG Prisons, consulted or did the jail superintendent directly send his recommendation to the Governor (on the actor’s early release from the prison),IJ” Justice Sawant asked.
“Also, how did the authorities assess that Dutt’s conduct was goodIJ When did they get the time to make such assessment when he was out on parole half the timeIJ” the Judge said.
The high court will hear the matter further a week later.
Sanjubabu, as the actor is popularly known as in Bollywood circles, was arrested for the first time on his arrival from Mauritius on April 19, 1993 for possessing prohibited Kalashnikov assault rifle and 9 mm pistol, was convicted under the Arms Act in 2006.
The conviction of Sanjay, who had initially been awarded six years’ sentence by a TADA court in 2006, was upheld by the Supreme Court on March 21, 2013. The apex court, however, reduced the sentence from six years to five years.
Given that he had already spent nearly 18 months behind the bars in three stretches in the past, the apex court asked Sanjay to serve a remaining jail term of three and a half years.
The actor surrendered before a designated TADA court in Mumbai on May 16, 2013. After spending six days in Mumbai’s Arthur Road prison, Sanjay was taken to Pune’s Yerwada prison on May 22, 2013.
Sanjay remained mired in controversies over the grant of repeated furloughs, parole and extension of leave from the prison ever since he was lodged at the Yerwada jail, to serve the remaining 42 months’ jail term in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case.
The actor, who had been released on a 30-day parole from the Yerwada prison on December 20, 2013 had got first extension of parole on January 20, 2014. In the normal course, Sanjay was to return to the Yerwada prison on or before February 21, 2014.
However, before the expiry of the parole period, the Pune Revenue divisional administration on February 16, 2014 extended Sanjay’s parole by 30 more days on the ground that he wanted to “take care of” his wife Manyata who was recuperating from a surgery.
So much so that the Bombay High Court on February 25, 2014 upbraided the Congress-led DF government for showing “extra diligence” to the Bollywood actor vis-Ã -vis other convicts.
Sanjay, who was subsequently granted 14-day furlough on December 25, 2014 on his request that he wanted to be with his family during the year-end and early days of 2015, was to have returned to the prison on January 8. But, he returned to the prison on January 10, 2015.
The actor was -- in the last week of August 2015 -- granted a 30-day-long parole yet again, this time to be on the side of his daughter when she undergoes a nose surgery.
Meanwhile, social activist Pradeep Bhalekar filed a public interest litigation before the Bombay High Court on Wednesday, challenging the actor’s early release on remission and alleging that the actor was getting preferential treatment.
In his petition, Bhalekar urged the court to cancel the government’s decision granting Dutt remission and order the actor to be taken into custody again to serve his entire five—year sentence imposed on him by the apex court.
“The remission granted to Dutt is wrong and illegal. What is the good behaviour and conduct that has been held as a ground for granting him remission and reducing his sentenceIJ What about all the other convicts especially in petty offences who are rotting in jail. They have also filed applications seeking remission but there has been no order on those,” petitioner’s lawyer Nitin Satpute had said.