The Supreme Court on Monday granted interim bail to actor Sanjay Dutt, who is serving a six-year prison term in Pune’s Yerawada jail.
A special TADA court in Mumbai had on July 31 sentenced Dutt to prison for illegal possession of weapons during the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts.
Yerawada jail officials will either release Dutt on Monday evening or on Tuesday depending on when they get a copy of the Supreme Court’s order. The bail is valid till the time the TADA court gives him a copy of its judgment.
The TADA court is expected to give a copy of its judgment by August 27—which will allow Dutt to spend seven days outside jail.
Dutt, after getting a copy of the TADA court’s judgment, will have to surrender before police. While on bail he has to appear once a week before a police station and cannot leave the country without the TADA court’s permission.
After getting a copy of the TADA court’s judgment, he will have to surrender before the same court for consideration of regular bail.
Dutt’s passport will remain with the TADA court. A bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan granted Dutt relief considering the fact that he was on bail from October 16, 1995 to July 31, 2007.
The Supreme Court ruled that all convicts in 1993 Mumbai blasts case who have not been given copies of the TADA’s court’s judgment must get bail. This applies to both those convicted under the TADA and Arms Act.
The court also granted interim bail to five other convicts: Sameer Hingora, Aziz Ahmed Mohammad Ahmed Sheikh, Ibrahim Musa Chauhan alias Baba Chauhan, Yusuf Mohsin Nulwalla and Zaibunnisa Anwar Kazi.
The court granted them bail while laying down the same conditions as put forth to Dutt.
Dutt’s lawyers had filed an appeal before the apex court challenging his conviction under the Arms Act on the ground that the gun, pistol and ammunition which he allegedly got from gangsters involved in the blasts were not recovered from him
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