Sanjay Dutt parole row: Sanjay Dutt's advocate defends his parole

On Friday the Maharashtra government stated that it can justify every single minute of parole that has been granted to Sanjay Dutt. As a public interest litigation has questioned the frequent parole, the actor gets. Sanjay Dutt was in jail for the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case. So now the Bombay High Court has been questioned if the same rules are applicable to each and everyone. As a parole is granted for only special reasons. Dutt was convicted of charges of illegal possession and destruction of an AK-56 rifle that was part of the consignment of firearms and explosives to be used in the 1993 terror attack.


Ashutosh Kumbhakoni, Maharashtra advocate said, “Not even for a single minute or second was Dutt out of jail in breach of the law. We can account for every single minute that he was permitted to stay out of jail. We follow a strict, standard procedure for granting parole for every inmate. In times of RTI queries and public interest litigations, we take no chance.”


Last year during a hearing the state had told another bench of the high court that the actor earned early release by displaying exemplary conduct while in jail. It was also pointed out that just two months into Sanjay Dutt’s sentence, the actor got parole and also a furlong, but others get it rarely. But Kumbhakoni stated on Friday that the concession granted to the actor was in July 2013 on account of medical emergencies in his family. He said, “This was on account of his daughter’s illness and his wife needing a surgery.”


Advocate general said, “In cases of medical emergency, we take between 24 hours and eight days to decide on applications for parole. In Dutt’s case, we sent a police officer to interview the doctor who was to perform the surgery to ensure that this was a genuine case.”


The section bench of justice SC Dharmadhikar and Bharati Dangre have told the state to submit an affidavit with steps in detail that have been followed while granting parole and furlough to an average inmate, the judge said postponing the hearing to February 1, “You can show us that you follow the same procedure for all inmates... else we’ll have to issue directions.”


Sanjay Dutt was released for his good conduct, hence the state decided to release him on February 25, 2016, eight months and 16 days before he completed his five-year sentence. The actor spent over a year and four months in jail as an undertrial, and about two-and-a-half years as a convicted prisoner between June 2013 and February 2016. He was out of jail for over five months on parole and furlough, during this period.