MUMBAI: Observing that the allegations of favouritism towards actor Sanjay Dutt are not sustainable, the Bombay High Court on Thursday disposed of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging remission of Dutt’s sentence and the “frequent parole and furlough” leaves granted to him while he was serving his sentence in the Yerwada prison in Pune.
Parole and furlough leaves are not fundamental rights but the state must devise methods to exercise its discretionary power for grant of such leave so that convicts are not deprived, observed the bench of Justice SC Dharmadhikari and Justice Bharati Dange.
There should be better coordination between the departments and states should device new methods and use the latest technology to handle applications so that delay is avoided at all costs, the bench added.
The state government, while countering the PIL filed by Mumbai activist Pradeep Bhalekar which claimed that while there were many other inmates with exemplary conduct only Dutt was favoured by the jail authorities for granting parole/furlough, had made it clear that actor Sanjay Dutt had not spent even a single minute out on parole or furlough unlawfully and that every single minute that he was permitted to stay out of jail was accounted for.
Dutt, who was sentenced to undergo the jail term after being convicted under the Arms Act for illegal possession and destruction of an AK-56 rifle, had spent around a year and four months in prison before trial and another two and half years as a convict between June 2013-February 2016.
During his incarceration in Yerawada Central Jail, the actor was granted bail or furlough for a little over five months on various grounds.
Finally, he walked out a free man on February 25, 2016, eight and half months before completion of his sentence, with the remainder remitted on the basis of his "exemplary conduct" while in jail.