New Delhi, August 20
Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, serving six-year imprisonment in Yerwada Jail in an Arms Act case related to 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, today got a temporary relief from the Supreme Court as it ordered his release on interim bail till the copy of the judgement is delivered by designated TADA judge P. D. Kode.
The trial judge had delivered the judgement though on November 28 finding Dutt guilty of possessing illegal arms of prohibited category, he acquitted him of the charges under TADA. He was awarded the sentence on July 31 and sent immediately to jail to undergo it.
A three-judge Bench, comprising Chief Justice K. G. Balakrishnan and Justices C. K. Thakker and R. V. Raveendran, gave the interim relief to Dutt and five other convicts purely for the reasons that the judgement was not available to them. So far only they had approached the apex court in appeal.
Till final decision on their appeal, they had prayed for granting them bail on the ground that at the time of their conviction, they were already on bail.
The Bench said Dutt and the other convicts would have to surrender before the designated court soon after it makes the copy of the judgement available to them.
“We make it clear that we are not considering the appeal on merits,” the Bench said, while making it mandatory for them to report to CBI’s special investigating team, which handled the case, at its Kolaba office every Sunday between 10 am and 1 pm.
Today’s order, which came exactly after 20 days of his being sent to the jail was essentially a temporary relief to the actor. The court will hear his bail petition on merits later after copy of the judgement was laid before it.
The court rejected the plea by the counsel of Dutt and others that they be given at least 10 days’ time to
surrender after the judgement would be available.The other five who got interim bail are Sameer Hingora, who had supplied the AK-56 rifle and a pistol to Dutt, Aziz Ahmed, Ibrahim Musa, Yusuf Mohisin and Zaibunissa. Except Dutt, the others were convicted under TADA and given sentences ranging between 5 and 10 years.
All convicts, including Dutt, were ordered to abide by the same bail conditions, which were imposed on them when granted bail during the pendency of the trial.
Pune: A smile was the only reaction actor Sanjay Dutt reportedly gave when a jail staffer conveyed the news to him about his interim bail granted by the Supreme Court today.
Dutt's release on bail would not be given effect on the basis of any faxed copy of the Supreme Court order. The actor would be set free only after TADA Court headed by Justice Kode writes to Yeravada prison authorities, on perusal of the original bail order produced before him, official sources added.
