Supreme Court grants interim bail to Sanjay Dutt(Lead: Sanjay)

The Supreme Court on Monday granted Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt interim bail in connection with his sentence of six years of rigorous imprisonment by the TADA court for violating the Arms Act at the height of the 1993 communal riots in Mumbai.

New Delhi, Aug 20 : The Supreme Court on Monday granted Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt interim bail in connection with his sentence of six years of rigorous imprisonment by the TADA court for violating the Arms Act at the height of the 1993 communal riots in Mumbai.

The apex court also granted relief to five other convicts in the 1993 Mumbai blast case. They are Sameer Hingora, Aziz Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed Sheikh, Ibrahim Musa Chauhan, Yusuf Mohsin Nulwalla and Zaibunnisa Anwar Kazi.

Dutt will be released after Yerwada Prison officials get a copy of the Supreme Court order. The bail is valid till the time the special TADA court provides him with a copy of the judgment.

Immediately after getting the copy of the judgement, Dutt will have to surrender, the apex court said.

While granting bail to Dutt, a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan said that "the nature of the offence and the evidence is very difficult to examine at this stage".

The TADA court has indicated that copies of the detailed judgement may be given to Dutt and others by August 24, subject to them being ready.

Defence lawyer Mukul Rohatgi said the court has granted bail to all the six on the condition that they will report to the CBI office in Mumbai every week and will not abuse their grant of liberty and bail.

After getting the copy of the judgement, Dutt can apply for regular bail.

All of them are expected to be released on bail by tomorrow.

The court said that Dutt's passport will remain with the trial court and he will not leave the country without its permission.

The Dutt family challenged the judgement given by a special TADA court in Mumbai for the illegal possession of arms on July 31.

In the petition, Dutt's lawyer said Dutt's conviction by a special TADA court was based on his confession that he had later retracted.

"A retracted confession is a weak piece of evidence," the petition said, arguing that the conviction should also be overturned because no arms or ammunition were ever recovered from him or his home.

Dutt appealed that he should be granted bail because he was "not likely to commit any offence while on bail" and urged the court to award him some form of punishment other than jail.

Dutt has already spent nearly 16 months in prison before his release on bail in 1996.

ANI