<div align="justify">In what would give the sleepless night to Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, the Maharashtra government on Thursday told the Bombay High Court that if prison rules were flouted in his early release he could be sent back to jail.<br /><br />“If there are any discrepancies (in remission and subsequent early release) and (we) realise that rules have been flouted by the state in Sanjay Dutt’s case then they will send him back to the jail,” advocate general Ashutosh Kumbhakoni said. <br /><br />He, however, said that the actor was not given any preferential treatment.<br /><br />However, the division bench comprising justice R M Savant and Justice Sadhana Jadhav, which is hearing a PIL challenging his early release, orally observed: “We do not have any such intention…but we wish to reaffirm that the due process of law has been followed or not…we do not want to set the clock back in time.”<br /><br />Earlier this year, a PIL was filed by Nitin Shivram Satpute challenging the release of the actor from jail ahead of eight months.<br /><br />Dutt, 57, the son of the actor-politician couple, late Sunil Dutt and Nargis, was convicted of keeping an AK-56 rifle that was part of the consignment that landed ahead of the 12 March 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai. He walked free on 25 February 2016, after completing his sentence in Pune’s Yerawada jail.<br /><br />"We only want to know on what basis and criteria he was granted early remission on good conduct? How is this good conduct and behaviour ascertained? Our conscience has to be satisfied that all this was done in accordance with law," the justice Savant wanted to know.<br /><br />"Dutt got furlough first for his wife's illness, then parole on grounds of his daughter's illness. We have seen cases where the convict's mother is ill and on her death bed but still parole or furlough is not given," justice Jadhav pointed out and directed the Maharashtra government to file a detailed affidavit within two weeks.</div>
<div align="justify">In what would give the sleepless night to Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, the Maharashtra government on Thursday told the Bombay High Court that if prison rules were flouted in his early release he could be sent back to jail.<br /><br />“If there are any discrepancies (in remission and subsequent early release) and (we) realise that rules have been flouted by the state in Sanjay Dutt’s case then they will send him back to the jail,” advocate general Ashutosh Kumbhakoni said. <br /><br />He, however, said that the actor was not given any preferential treatment.<br /><br />However, the division bench comprising justice R M Savant and Justice Sadhana Jadhav, which is hearing a PIL challenging his early release, orally observed: “We do not have any such intention…but we wish to reaffirm that the due process of law has been followed or not…we do not want to set the clock back in time.”<br /><br />Earlier this year, a PIL was filed by Nitin Shivram Satpute challenging the release of the actor from jail ahead of eight months.<br /><br />Dutt, 57, the son of the actor-politician couple, late Sunil Dutt and Nargis, was convicted of keeping an AK-56 rifle that was part of the consignment that landed ahead of the 12 March 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai. He walked free on 25 February 2016, after completing his sentence in Pune’s Yerawada jail.<br /><br />"We only want to know on what basis and criteria he was granted early remission on good conduct? How is this good conduct and behaviour ascertained? Our conscience has to be satisfied that all this was done in accordance with law," the justice Savant wanted to know.<br /><br />"Dutt got furlough first for his wife's illness, then parole on grounds of his daughter's illness. We have seen cases where the convict's mother is ill and on her death bed but still parole or furlough is not given," justice Jadhav pointed out and directed the Maharashtra government to file a detailed affidavit within two weeks.</div>
