In what could give nightmares to Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, the
Maharashtra government on Thursday informed Bombay High Court he could
be sent back to jail if prison rules were flouted for his early release
last year. "If there are discrepancies (in the remission and
subsequent early release) and we realise that rules have been flouted by
the state in the Sanjay Dutt case, then we will send him back to jail,"
Advocate-General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni told the court. He also said the actor was not given any preferential treatment in
the matter, but if the court disagreed, it could order hm to be "sent
back to jail." The comments came at an ongoing hearing in a
public interest litigation before a division bench comprising Justice R.
M. Savant and Justice Sadhana Jadhav. However, the judges observed that they do not have any intention (of
sending Dutt back to prison), but wanted to reaffirm whether the due
process of the law has been followed or not. "We do not want to set the
clock back in time," the bench said. The latest development came
during the hearing of a PIL filed by activist Nitin S. Satpute
challenging the actor's release from jail in February 2016, eight months
before his sentence was due to end, on grounds of good conduct, by the
Yerawada Central Jail, Pune. On July 17, the state government had
submitted its report to the high court saying the actor was granted
paroles for his his good behaviour, discipline, participating in various
institutional activities like physical training, educational programs
and completing allotted work on schedule. The court has sought to know the basis and criteria for his remission
on good conduct, how "good conduct and behaviour" are ascertained as he
was granted repeated paroles and furloughs during his incarceration,
something rarely permitted to other convicts, and directed the
government to file a detailed affidavit on this within a fortnight. Arrested
in 1993, Dutt, 57, was convicted in an arms case for possession of an
AK-56 army assault rifle which was part of a consignment that was
brought to Mumbai prior to the March 12, 1993 Mumbai serial blasts.
