Court junks PIL against Dutt’s reduced jail term

Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Thursday disposed of a public interest litigation (PIL) filed against the reduction of Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt's five-year jail-term by eight months.

Mr Dutt had taken parole and furlough several times, while serving the term for his role in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case at Yerwada jail, Pune.

The HC gave the state a clean chit against the allegations of the petitioner. It also directed the state government to devise a scheme to extend the benefits of parole and furlough to other jail inmates so that they do not have a perception that the government extends favours to a select few inmates only.

A division bench of Justices S.C. Dharmadhikari and Bharati Dangre was hearing a PIL, which alleged that Mr Dutt was favoured with regards to paroles and furloughs by the prison authorities.

The state denied the allegations and said that it had followed correct procedures. It further said that details like - number of days, dates and reason when Mr Dutt was out on parole and furlough had been submitted to the Home department. The state submitted the details to the court as well.

After hearing the submissions, the HC observed that it was satisfied with the contentions of the state as it had backed it with proper documents. The HC further said that the PIL seemed to be filed for the sake of publicity. The bench warned against such PILs and said that litigations targeting individuals should be avoided. The court then directed the state to devise a scheme whereby applications for parole and furlough by convicts are decided upon in an expeditious manner.