Showing posts with label Markandey Katju. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Markandey Katju. Show all posts
Sanjay Dutt's lawyer says he did not seek remission
9:13 AM
Swati Deshpande (THE TIMES OF INDIA; September 26, 2015)
Sanjay Dutt, who is out on a
30-day parole, will surrender to the Yerawada jail in Pune on Saturday
and his legal team said former Supreme Court (SC) judge Markanday Katju
had made a plea for his pardon in the case. The actor, who is undergoing
a five-year prison term for his conviction under the Arms Act for
illegal possession, more than two decades ago, of an AK-56 rifle,
completes the sentence early next year.
Dutt's lawyer Hitesh Jain said the Maharashtra governor's refusal to reduce his term was not in response to any plea by the actor. “Dutt had not even asked for remission. The governor's refusal has to do with an earlier move by Justice Katju.“
Dutt had applied for parole on March 26 for his daughter's surgery in April, but got out of prison on August 26 (the surgery had taken place as scheduled). In the past month he spent time with family and friends, and directors and producers visited him too. They are said to be waiting for his prison term to end. Among those who dropped by were Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Sanjay Gupta, sources said. “Furlough and parole granted to Dutt are legally granted within the framework of the rules,'' said Subhash Jadhav, who may accompany the actor to Pune. “Like applications for other convicts are considered for furlough and parole, his were too.Hundreds of convicts are released on parole and furlough every year,'' he said.
The governor's refusal was on an application by Justice Katju on behalf of not only Dutt but also Zaibunissa Kazi, another convict in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts case, who unlike Dutt was convicted under the Terrorist and Disruptive Acti vities (Prevention) Act (Tada).
Jain said, “Neither Dutt nor his family members approached the former SC judge. Justice Katju had suo motto made the application for pardon in 2013.'' Dutt, after factoring in remission under the prison roles, is likely to complete his term in January, according to his lawyer's calculation, while the state says it may be in February.
Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao decided the two-year-old pardon plea on September 15, on the recommendation of the home department, which cautioned that it may become a precedent, not a good one, as the Supreme Court had upheld his conviction and reduced his prison term by a year.
Justice Katju was not questioning the SC verdict but only the quantum as Dutt had already spent 18 months in prison when the apex court confirmed his conviction in March 2013.
Dutt's lawyer Hitesh Jain said the Maharashtra governor's refusal to reduce his term was not in response to any plea by the actor. “Dutt had not even asked for remission. The governor's refusal has to do with an earlier move by Justice Katju.“
Dutt had applied for parole on March 26 for his daughter's surgery in April, but got out of prison on August 26 (the surgery had taken place as scheduled). In the past month he spent time with family and friends, and directors and producers visited him too. They are said to be waiting for his prison term to end. Among those who dropped by were Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Sanjay Gupta, sources said. “Furlough and parole granted to Dutt are legally granted within the framework of the rules,'' said Subhash Jadhav, who may accompany the actor to Pune. “Like applications for other convicts are considered for furlough and parole, his were too.Hundreds of convicts are released on parole and furlough every year,'' he said.
The governor's refusal was on an application by Justice Katju on behalf of not only Dutt but also Zaibunissa Kazi, another convict in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts case, who unlike Dutt was convicted under the Terrorist and Disruptive Acti vities (Prevention) Act (Tada).
Jain said, “Neither Dutt nor his family members approached the former SC judge. Justice Katju had suo motto made the application for pardon in 2013.'' Dutt, after factoring in remission under the prison roles, is likely to complete his term in January, according to his lawyer's calculation, while the state says it may be in February.
Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao decided the two-year-old pardon plea on September 15, on the recommendation of the home department, which cautioned that it may become a precedent, not a good one, as the Supreme Court had upheld his conviction and reduced his prison term by a year.
Justice Katju was not questioning the SC verdict but only the quantum as Dutt had already spent 18 months in prison when the apex court confirmed his conviction in March 2013.
Governor rejects Sanjay Dutt's plea to cancel jail term
7:58 AM
Granting pardon will set a bad precedent, home dept said
Yogesh Naik (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 24, 2015)
Exactly two and a half years after former Supreme Court judge Markandey
Katju made an impassioned plea seeking pardon for Sanjay Dutt,
Maharashtra Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao has rejected the appeal. Katju
had written letters to the President, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
and Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde after a discussion with
noted criminal lawyer Majid Memon and others in March 2013. Their
decision came after Sanjay Dutt broke down in front of the media and
declared that he was not going to seek pardon and would go by the
Supreme Court decision. Sanjay Dutt was convicted in the 1993 blasts case under the Arms Act for possessing weapons.
He was jailed in 1996 and spent 18 months behind bars before walking out on bail. In 2013, the Supreme Court sentenced him to five years in prison for the crime. The 18 months that Dutt had earlier spent in jail were taken into account and he was to spend another 42 months. After the imprisonment in May 2013, Dutt has spent nearly 30 months in prison already and is due to walk out a free man in February 2016.
After he was sent to Yerwada jail in May 2013, Dutt has been out on parole twice and an equal number of times on furlough. In October 2013, he was out on furlough for 14 days, which was extended by a fortnight. In January 2014, a 30-day parole was extended by another 30 days. In December 2014, he was granted a 14-day furlough. Since August 27, 2015, he is again out on a 14-day furlough.
While turning down the plea for pardon, the Governor followed the home department's advice, which, according to sources, was strongly in favour of rejecting it. The home department had recommended to the Governor that the plea for pardon be turned down as Dutt had been convicted by the highest court. Granting him pardon would set a bad precedent, it added.
Katju's plea to the president is also likely to meet the same fate as the Maharashtra home department has given the same recommendation to the President too.
Sources in the state government told Mumbai Mirror that Katju's plea was kept in the cold storage for a long time as Dutt's sister, Priya Dutt, was the Congress MP from north-west Mumbai at the time. The home department sat on the file and sent the proposal only after the new government was sworn in.
In his appeal, Katju had argued that Dutt was "not a terrorist" and had only erred. "The only charge on which Sanjay Dutt has been found guilty is the charge of having in his possession a prohibited weapon," he had said, adding that he was in no way questioning the Supreme Court verdict. He had written that though the imprisonment of five years for possessing the weapon was correct, Dutt had suffered enough after spending 18 months in jail before he was sentenced in March 2013 and thus would be a fit case for pardon.
"I prayed that until my pardon petition is disposed of respite should be granted because Article 72 not only empowers the President to grant pardon, it also empowers the President to grant respite or suspension of sentence. So, till the pardon petition is decided, I have prayed that the President should grant respite," Katju said.
Along with Dutt, Katju had also sought pardon for Zaibunnisa Kazi, another convict in the 1993 blasts case. Towards the fag end of a lengthy letter, Katju had written: "I am not appealing that Sanjay Dutt should be pardoned because he is a celebrity. I am also appealing for pardon to Zaibunnasa Kazi, co-accused who is not a celebrity."
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