Mumbai: Maha govt justifies Sanjay Dutt’s early release, files affidavit in Bombay HC

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Government on Monday presented an affidavit at the Bombay High Court justifying its decision of early release of Sanjay Dutt, an accused in the 1993 Bombay blasts case. The state government presented a calculation of his remission and mentioned that all prison rules were followed.

The affidavit has been filed after the Bombay High Court, on June 12, asked the Maharashtra Government to justify its decision to release actor Sanjay Dutt from prison eight months early in the 1993 serial blasts case. The High Court asked as to how Dutt’s good behaviour was assessed and how he was released early when he was out on parole and furlough during half of his sentence.

Dutt was let out in February 2016, eight months early, on account of his good conduct while in Pune’s Yerwada prison.

The actor, who was on bail during the trial, had surrendered in May 2013 after the Supreme Court upheld his conviction. However, the government in its affidavit has given a division of the duration he had served in jail, excluding the time for which he was on parole and at the end showing that he completed his five years of term.

The total parole leave mentioned in the affidavit is four months and furlough leave is one month and 14 days. The affidavit also mentioned that Dutt was not found guilty of all the other offences for which he was charged and, accordingly, acquitted for all the said offences.

Dutt was sentenced to five years in jail for his role in the 1993 blasts case. He served his sentence in Yerawada Central Prison in Pune for illegal possession and destruction of an AK-56 rifle.

On July, 2007, the TADA court in Mumbai sentenced him to six years’ rigorous imprisonment under the Arms Act and imposed a fine of Rs. 25,000. In 2013, the Supreme Court upheld the ruling, but reduced the sentence to five years following which he surrendered to serve the remainder of his sentence.