The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to entertain a curative petition from Sanjay Dutt, seeking reconsideration of the judgment upholding his conviction, under the Arms Act, in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts cases. The Bollywood actor was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.
On May 10, the court dismissed his review petition and he surrendered on May 16 and since then he has been in prison. Now, with the dismissal of the curative petition, Mr. Dutt has lost the final legal battle. He has already spent 18 months in jail and will have to serve the remaining period.
A Bench of Chief Justice P. Sathasivam and Justices G.S. Singhvi, R.M. Lodha and B.S. Chauhan dismissed the curative petition through circulation in the chambers. It said, “No case is made out within the parameters indicated in the decision of this court in Rupa Ashok Hurra vs. Ashok Hurra [case] and another.” The court had convicted the actor for illegally possessing weapons in a notified area. It said “the circumstances and the nature of the offence are so serious that they do not warrant the appellant the benefit of the provisions of the Probation of Offenders Act. However, taking note of various aspects, we reduce the sentence [of six years awarded by the TADA court to a minimum period, 5 years.”
