A special Tada court on Tuesday declared that Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt was not a terrorist and acquitted him on the serious charge of conspiracy in the 1993 serial bomb blasts in Mumbai, but convicted him on the lesser charge of possessing arms. This carries a maximum prison sentence of three years. Dutt had spent 16 months in prison after his arrest in April 1993. If he is awarded the maximum sentence under the Arms Act, he may have to spend up to 20 more months behind bars.
On Dutt’s plea, the court also extended his bail till December 19, when he has been asked to surrender in court. “During my reasoning I have not found him (Sanjay) to be a terrorist,†said Judge P.D. Kode of the court constituted under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act as the actor, members of his family and a host of others awaited the verdict. The judge said he accepted the 47-year-old Dutt’s confession, observing: “Considering matters in his confession and also taking into account certain admissions from other evidence, I accept the stand of Sanjay Dutt of acquiring and possessing weapons for self- defence.â€
Dutt was found guilty under Sections 3 and 7 read with Section 25 of the Indian Arms Act. Under Section 3, he was found guilty of possessing a 9mm pistol and under Section 7 for possessing an AK-56 rifle, a prohibited weapon. Dutt’s sentence will be pronounced once the verdicts on all 123 suspects on trial for involvement in the 1993 blasts, the worst-ever terrorist attack on Indian soil, are delivered. The Tada court has so far found 86 of them guilty and acquitted 23 others.
Before Judge Kode could start pronouncing judgment, Sanjay Dutt requested the judge if he could say something. The judge replied: “First let me give my verdict.†Dutt, wearing a check shirt and jeans, looked nervous when he came down from the witness box to his seat after hearing the verdict. The court later permitted his lawyer Satish Maneshinde to talk to him outside the courtroom on the first floor.
On his client’s behalf, Satish Maneshinde said, “We are happy that he is freed of the conspiracy charges.†On hearing the verdict, both Dutt’s close family and the wider Bollywood fraternity heaved a sigh of relief that the actor had been acquitted on the terrorism and conspiracy charges, which had been hanging like a sword over his head for 13 long years.
Under the normal legal procedure, Dutt would have had to surrender immediately, but the judge considered his professional assignments involving ongoing film projects worth Rs 150 crores as well as his daughter’s education as grounds for extending bail. The prosecution, however, had taken exception to the bail application, saying that the reasons cited were without merit.
The Tada court also let off Sanjay Dutt’s friends Yusuf Nallawalla and Kersi Adajenia on terrorism charges but found them guilty under the Arms Act and for destroying evidence. The CBI had said that both helped Sanjay to destroy an AK-56 rifle by melting it in a foundry and disposing of the remains in the sea. The court held Zebunisa Qazi guilty of abetting terrorist acts by keeping in her possession weapons delivered to her by gangster Abu Salem and his men.
