Home India News Supreme Court to hear Sanjay Dutt’s plea Aug 20

Supreme Court to hear Sanjay Dutt’s plea Aug 20

By IANS

New Delhi : The Supreme Court Friday rescheduled to Aug 20 the hearing of Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt’s plea against his conviction and six-year jail term under the Arms Act in the 1993 Mumbai terror bombings.

A bench comprising Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice R.V. Raveendran rescheduled Dutt’s plea along with that of three other convicts in the Mumbai blasts case.

While slating Dutt’s petition for hearing Aug 20, the bench also issued a notice on the issue to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Dutt’s petition was mentioned Wednesday while a five-judge constitution bench was engaged in a marathon hearing on quota in educational institutions for students from the backward classes.

That day the bench had ordered that Dutt’s petition be formally mentioned Friday. But Dutt’s counsel Fali S. Nariman had apparently misconstrued the order and thought that a proper hearing of the petition would be taken up Friday.

As Nariman made a fresh mention about Dutt’s petition Friday and pleaded for an early hearing, the bench ordered Dutt’s plea to be listed with that of the three other convicts. They include 64-year-old Zaibunissa Kazi, jailed for five years for knowing about the terror plot but not informing authorities.

Rejecting Nariman’s plea for an earlier hearing, the bench said: “We are not going to pass any order now. We will consider all connected matters on Aug 20.

“We want to follow uniform approach.”

Nariman pleaded that his client had been on bail for 12 years, but was taken into custody after pronouncement of his sentence by the Mumbai anti-terror court July 31.

He was taken into custody without being given a copy of the detailed and reasoned verdict convicting him, which in turn impeded his right to make an effective appeal before the court. Nariman pleaded that Dutt be granted at least interim bail till the judgement is made available to him, which is expected to be delivered Aug 24.

But the chief justice said that it wouldn’t take that long to list the matter for hearing and fixed Aug 20 for hearing.

Besides Zaibunissa, the court will also hear the plea of Ibrahim Mussa, jailed for 10 years on terror charges. Mussa had allegedly delivered illegal weapons to Dutt in the run up to the Mumbai blasts that claimed 257 lives and injured many hundreds.

The third convict, whose plea would be heard along with Dutt’s, is Ahmed Aziz Sheikh, who has been sentenced to five years in prison. He was found in possession of a US-made carbine, four magazines and 28 cartridges.

Sheikh has already spent three-and-a-half years in jail.