The Hindu : National : Supreme Court grants interim bail to Sanjay Dutt, five others

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Tuesday, Aug 21, 2007
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Supreme Court grants interim bail to Sanjay Dutt, five others

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday granted interim bail to actor Sanjay Dutt, who was sentenced to undergo six-year imprisonment. It also granted similar relief to five, who had challenged their conviction and sentence of imprisonment.

A three-Judge Bench, comprising Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justices C.K. Thakker and R.V. Raveendran, however, told the petitioners that they would have to surrender soon after the judgment was pronounced by the designated court and a copy was made available to them.

The Bench said that as soon as the judgment was ready, the designated court should fix a date for its pronouncement and give copies to the accused. Mr. Dutt and others would be released on the same conditions imposed by the court when they were granted bail initially during the pendency of the trial.

It directed them to surrender their passports and appear between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. every Sunday before the Special Task Force of the CBI in Mumbai.

When senior counsel Ashok Desai said it might take some time for the trial court to give its judgment though the judgment on conviction was delivered on November 28, 2006, the Bench said: “we treat the petitioners as if there had been no conviction. Since they were on bail during the trial, we can grant them bail on condition that they would surrender after the judgment is pronounced.”

The Bench said, “in the absence of the judgment, it is not possible for us to consider the extent of evidence against the petitioners and whether the evidence had been properly considered or not.”

Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanian said there were three types of bomb blast cases —major (TADA offences, conspiracy etc), minor and those in the periphery (only Arms Act offences, etc). “We do not want to give any impression that we are not acting with seriousness or acting with a particular person in mind.”

The Bench said: “We cannot consider the cases for bail on merits. We will consider them after the judgment is pronounced.”

When counsel for the petitioners wanted a week or 10 days time to surrender after judgment is pronounced as it might take some time to get a judgment copy, the Bench said: “Your argument is unheard of criminal jurisprudence. We will not permit such an argument. You [petitioner concerned] will have to surrender after the judgment is pronounced.”

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