Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt, incarcerated in the Yerawada jail in Pune having been sentenced to six years imprisonment by the TADA court moved the Supreme Court on Tuesday challenging the conviction for possession of illegal arms including an AK-56 in 1993.
The application filed by Dutt prayed for the suspension of the sentence and also release on bail pending hearing. The petition is likely to come up for hearing on August 9 before a bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan.“We have filed the appeal against the conviction and also prayed for bail,”' said Counsel Satish Maneshinde, an associate of Senior Lawyer Fali S Nariman.Mr Nariman assisted by a battery of lawyers would argue the case before the court seeking bail and suspension of the sentence.
On July 31, the TADA Special Judge P D Kode sentenced Dutt to six years rigorous imprisonment under the Arms Act for illegal possession of the weapons before the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts.
“It was an eminently dangerous act,” as the weapon possessed by Dutt was capable of mass destruction though the accused had not used the weapons, observed Judge Kode during the pronouncement of the judgement.
Dutt, 48, had spent 16 months in prison after his arrest in April 1993 and was on bail till the date of sentence. He was convicted by the court in November last year under the Arms Act. While lifting charges under Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act.
