By IANS
New Delhi/Pune : The Supreme Court Tuesday granted bail to Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, undergoing a six-year jail term in a Pune jail for possessing weapons in the run up to the 1993 Mumbai bombings, and 16 others convicted for their role in the blasts.
A bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justices R.V. Raveendran and J.M. Panchal gave all 17 bail till their appeals against the Mumbai anti-terror court order convicting them are decided by the apex court.
While Dutt has been convicted under the Arms Act, many of the other 16 have been held guilty under TADA (Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act).
The apex court may take at least two years or more to decide the appeals.
The bench paved the way for freedom of 17 out of the 25 convicts who had approached the apex court seeking bail and challenging their convictions after Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanian, who was appearing for the Central Bureau of Investigation, put forward fairly liberal conditions.
He agreed to give bail for four of the convicted, including Dutt, who were guilty of non-terror charges. However, he also told the court that “as a law officer of the government” he would not mind the release of the others who had already undergone jail terms for periods exceeding half their sentence.
The CBI counsel opposed the bail plea of only those who had been sentenced to life.
The six lifers denied bail included three Memon family members — Anjum Abdul Razak Memon alias Essa, Yusuf Abdul Razak Memon and Rubina Suleman Memon.
There were two others not given bail by the court — Khalil Ahmed Sayed Ali Nazir, who was sentenced to 10 years in jail and has undergone imprisonment for only three years; and Kesrai Bapuji Adejenia, sentenced for two years but has not surrendered before the court after his conviction.
The names of the other convicts, released on bail, reads like a who’s who of the terror world — Samir Ahmed Hingora (jailed for nine years), Yusuf Mohsin Nulwalla (sentenced to five years), Zaibunisa Anwar Kazi (five years), Yusuf Khan (five years), Aziz Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed Sheikh (five years), Mobina alias Baya Moosa Bhiwandiwala (five years), Liyakat Ali Habib Khan (five years), Shahnawaz Khan (10 years), Mohammed Rafiq (five years) and Mohammed Dawood Mohammed Yusuf Khan (six years).
To ensure that the convicts are granted bail at the earliest, the bench directed that the orders be sent to the designated anti-terror court in Mumbai through email.
As news of Dutt finally walking out of jail came in, crowds started gathering outside the Yerawada jail in Pune hoping to catch a glimpse of the star.
According to his lawyer Satish Maneshinde, “Sanjay should be out of jail any time after tomorrow”.
Another lawyer, Farhana Shah, said: “We are now waiting for the copy of the order from the Supreme Court. After that, we will be filing for the surety at the designated court. Once these formalities are over, Sanjay can step out.”
Prison authorities have tightened security measures and installed huge barriers to prevent the public and the media from getting a clear view of the prison.