Actor Sanjay Dutt is serving a 42-month jail sentence in connection with the 1993 Mumbai blasts
The Centre has reportedly asked for the Maharashtra government's opinion on reducing the sentence of actor Sanjay Dutt, who is serving a 42-month jail term in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case. Mr Dutt has been out on parole on medical grounds since October 1.
The home ministry is reportedly following up on a petition by Press Council chairman Justice Markandeya Katju to the President, asking that the actor be pardoned.
"Sanjay suffered a lot and had a cloud hovering over his head throughout (the trial). He had to undergo various tribulations and indignities during this period. He had to go to court often, he had to take the permission of the court for foreign shootings, and he could not get bank loans," Justice Katju had said.
Sources said this was part of routine procedure followed for such appeals. Mr Katju had made his appeal in March.
Mr Dutt is serving his jail term at the Yerawada jail in Pune, but had left the prison this month after being sanctioned leave on medical grounds. Last week, he was granted a 14-day extension of his leave from jail.
The 53-year-old actor was convicted and sentenced by the Supreme Court to five years in prison in March, in a case linked to the 1993 multiple blasts in Mumbai, which killed over 250 people. The court held him guilty of illegally possessing an automatic rifle and a pistol supplied to him by men subsequently convicted for the bomb blasts. He had earlier been acquitted of the more serious charges of terrorism and conspiracy.
While facing trial, the actor had served 18 months in jail before being released on bail in 2007.
Sanjay Dutt is currently with his family in Mumbai.