TADA court to hear Sanjay Dutts probation plea

A special TADA (Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (PREVENTION) ACT) court will take up actor Sanjay Dutts probation plea today, in connection with the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, which killed 257 people and left more than 700 people injured.

Mumbai, May 16 : A special TADA (Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (PREVENTION) ACT) court will take up actor Sanjay Dutt's probation plea today, in connection with the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, which killed 257 people and left more than 700 people injured.

Dutt, who was convicted for possessing illegal weapons, had filed an application under the Probation of Offenders Act (POA), 1958.

Along with him, three of Dutt's associates, who have been convicted under the Arms Act for helping him destroy evidence, Yusuf Nulwalla, Rusi Mulla and Kersi Adajania, had also filed pleas for probation which will also come up in the court today.

According to the Act, a person convicted of any offence other than the one punishable with death or life imprisonment, can be released on probation instead of serving the sentence in prison.

The prosecution, through Ujjwal Nikam, had argued that Dutt could not be granted leniency for being a "youthful" offender, when the crime was committed. He said the POA was meant for young and immature offenders.

Nikam had said that Dutt, who was 34 years old in 1993, when he accepted an AK-56 rifle and a Chinese 9mm pistol from Samir Hingora, was "mature and adult". He contended that Dutt could then distinguish between a hunting rifle and an AK-56, "a weapon of mass destruction".

Dutt's lawyers had urged that he be set free for his good behaviour during the bail, citing a 1958 law, which allows certain convicts to be given probation.

Dutt, 48, has been consistently granted bail and has also been cleared of conspiracy charges against him.

Dutt has been out on bail since 1995 after spending over a year in prison during initial investigations into the blasts.

A court had on May 9 formally acquitted 23 people in the case.

In total, 100 people have been found guilty in the blast case. The prime accused in the case, Tiger Memon and his family are still absconding and are reportedly living in Pakistan.

The court will begin pronouncing the quantum of sentence to the convicts from May 18.

ANI