Sanjay Dutt gets two-day reprieve

The six include Dutt's friends Russi Molla and Kersi Adjania as well as former additional custom collector Somanth Kakaram Thapa, who was sacked on charges of having allowed the smuggling of explosives into India.

They all were given interim bail till Thursday, when the court, set up under the provisions of the repealed Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), will hear arguments on their bail pleas and pronounce its final verdict.

Dutt stands convicted for possessing illegal firearms including a 9 mm pistol and an AK 56 rifle, in the run up to the 1993 Mumbai blasts that killed 257 people and was blamed on the underworld as well as the Pakistani intelligence.

Dutt, son of the late actor and cabinet minister Sunil Dutt, faces five to 10 years of jail term. His sister Priya is a now a Congress MP.

The actor has, however, been acquitted of charges under the anti-terror law. While convicting him Nov 28, Special Judge P.D. Kode granted him bail till Dec 19.

With his bail expiring Tuesday, Dutt approached the court for extension of bail till the court sentences him.

Dutt's defence counsel Satish Mansingde pointed out that if the actor was sent to jail now, he would not be able to stay out of prison under the provisions of the Probation of Offenders Act once he is sentenced.

Section 4 of the act entitles a convict to be released from jail on the strength of his good conduct. Dutt has already spent over 16 months in prison.

Ever since his release on bail in 1995 after his first arrest, Mansignde said, Dutt has a consistent record of good conduct and was never taken into custody.

But if he were taken into custody now, it would greatly impair his chances of getting relief under the Probation of Offenders Act.

Public prosecutor Ujjawal Nigam opposed the plea.

But judge Kode, however, extended Dutt's bail saying: "The court will hear the arguments on the further extension Thursday and examine if Dutt could be granted probation under the Probation of Offenders Act after a jail term is imposed on him."

Other grounds on which Dutt sought extension of his bail included time to make arrangement for the education of his daughter Trishala in the US, to take charge of his parental property (his father died without making a will), and to finish various film projects starring him.

Trishala is coming to India Dec 23 during her Christmas vacation and he said he needed to be with her. She studies law at the John Day College of Justice in the US.

Dutt has several film projects on the floor featuring him. They included Abbas Mustan's "Mr Fraud", Sanjay Gupta's "Shootout", and Inder Kumar's "Dhamaal".

Dressed in a striped blue shirt and his trademark-faded jeans, a tense Dutt, sporting a tilak on his forehead, sat at the back of the courtroom and only occasionally spoke to others. His brother-in-law Kumar Gaurav waited outside.