Sanjay Dutt gets 14 days' extension of parole

Oct 14, 2013 IANS

Pune, Oct 14 (IANS) Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, currently out of the Yerwada Central Jail here on parole, has secured a 14-day extension on medical grounds, official sources said here Monday.

Dutt, 53, whose parole period is due to end Monday, last week made an application for another fortnight's extension.

Scheduled to return to the jail Monday evening, Sanjay will now come back to his cell Oct 29, the sources said.

On Oct 1, the incarcerated actor secured a 14-day parole from Yerwada Central Jail on medical grounds.

A parole is a conditional release granted to a prisoner for a limited period of time for a specific purpose and is strictly governed under the Indian jail laws.

"It does not imply commutation of the sentence or amnesty and is purely decided on individual cases, at the discretion of the concerned authorities," eminent criminal lawyer J.P. Mishra told IANS.

Dutt is serving a 42-month sentence for his role in the March 1993 Mumbai serial blasts.

He was convicted by a Special TADA Court for illegal possession of a pistol and an AK-47 military assault rifle during the March 1993 blasts.

In March this year, the Supreme Court upheld his conviction for violation of the Arms Act and reduced his sentence from six years, awarded by a lower court, to five years.

He had already served one-and-half years behind bars as an undertrial and returned to Mumbai's Arthur Road Central Jail May 16, 2013, to serve the remaining sentence.

Later, on security grounds he was shifted to Pune's Yerwada Central Jail where he has been lodged the past five months.