Mumbai:
Across political parties, the campaign to save Sanjay Dutt from doing jail time is gaining momentum.
On Tuesday evening, actor-politician Jaya Prada is scheduled to meet the Governor of Maharashtra, K Sankaranarayanan, to request him to pardon Mr Dutt, who was sentenced to five years in prison by the Supreme Court last week in a case linked to the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai in which 257 people were killed and more than 700 injured.
Mr Dutt was convicted by the Supreme Court for illegally possessing weapons including an AK-56 assault rifle which he got from men who planned and executed the terror attack.
Ms Prada, a Member of Parliament, who used to be with the Samajwadi Party, will be accompanied by politician Amar Singh who was expelled from the same party and was Mr Dutt's mentor when the actor briefly dabbled in politics.
Law Minister Ashwani Kumar said last week, "Governor will use his discretionary power when there will be an appeal to him. He has the power to pardon. We should not comment on it."
Mr Dutt, who has been on bail since 2007, has already spent 18 months in prison; he will have to return to jail within four weeks to serve the balance.
His family has said it is exploring legal options.
It was Justice Markandey Katju, the chairman of the Press Council of India, who first raised the point that the Governor of a state and the President have the right to pardon a convict under Article 161 of the constitution. He wrote to the Maharashtra Governor within hours of the verdict last week, with an impassioned plea that said, "The event happen in 1993 i.e. 20 years ago. During this period Sanjay suffered a lot, and had a cloud hovering over his head throughout... He has not been held to be a terrorist, and had no hand in the bomb blasts."
Today, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee supported that point of view, stating "Though it is not in my hand, I feel that he has already suffered a lot for the blunder he committed earlier. From complete wreck, he has again picked up his career to unfold his potential."