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Court questions govt on frequent furloughs granted to Sanjay Dutt

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday questioned the Maharashtra government about the frequent furloughs granted to Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, who is currently out of jail on yet an extended parole.

The court sought all the papers relating to the case for granting parole to the actor and extending it. A lawyer had filed a public interest litigation, accusing the Pune divisional commissioner and the superintendent of Yerwada jail, Pune, of favouring the actor by letting him on out three successive occasions on parole.

The court’s order comes close on the heels of a query by the home ministry in Delhi, seeking an explanation from the Maharashtra government about the parole — and the consequent extensions — granted to the actor. The ministry wanted to know whether the government had accorded any special privileges to him.

Sanjay was convicted by the Supreme Court for illegal possession of arms in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case. He was sentenced to five years in jail, but since he had already served an 18-month sentence earlier, his term has been reduced to 42 months.

The 54-year-old actor was lodged in the Yerwada jail last May. However, in October, citing medical reasons, he was granted a fortnight’s parole. Sanjay got it extended by another fortnight. The actor applied for parole and was out of jail on December 21, as his wife, Maanyata was not keeping well.

The actor, whose sister Priya Dutt is an MP from Mumbai’s north-central constituency, got his furlough extended by another month after Maanyata underwent a surgery. She is suffering from multiple ailments and has still not recovered fully. On February 9, he sought yet another month’s extension, which was also granted by the Pune divisional commissioner.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has denied that the government had shown favours to Sanjay. He claims no rules have been violated while granting parole and extending it.

Deputy Chief Minister R.R. Patil also denies that officials have granted special privileges to the actor, but adds that the government aims to bring about changes in the furlough and parole rules to prevent possible misuse by convicts.

The Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena have accused the government of granting paroles and extensions to Sanjay because of his family’s political connections to the Congress.

nithin@khaleejtimes.com