PUNE: Actor Sanjay Dutt may have to surrender at the Yerawada jail today if the state prisons department does not extend his furlough.
Dutt’s 14 days leave expired on Thursday. Sources said Dutt arrived at the jail with his two lawyers in two separate cars on Thursday afternoon. He went back after an hour when the prison authorities told him that he may not have to surrender before Friday, pending a decision on his request of extension of leave.
On December 27, 2014, Dutt had filed a plea for extending his furlough by two weeks. On January 1, 2015, deputy inspector general (prisons) Rajendra Dhamne had issued a notice to the Mumbai police seeking its written statement on his plea. Dutt had reached his home in Bandra on the Christmas eve and had spent time with his twin toddlers, wife Manyata and friends.
An official of the Maharashtra state prisons department said the competent authority (Dhamne) will pass necessary orders on the actor’s plea after receiving a reply from the Mumbai police.
Dutt has the right to seek extension of leave for two weeks, but it will be considered only for reasons like ailment and after a police report is sought afresh. Furlough excludes the period of travel, which means Dutt is required to surrender on Friday.
The actor is serving a five-year sentence for his conviction under the Arms Act for illegal possession of an AK-56 rifle just before the March 1993 blasts in Mumbai. He had applied for furlough, a legally entitled leave which convicts can get every year, in October and it was sanctioned in December last year.
The leave is to ensure that prisoners maintain contact with society and their families. Unlike parole, it requires no reason and can be extended after two weeks for another two weeks initially and with reason for up to 120 days. The leave is counted as part of the prison term and is available every year to convicted felons. The actor had surrendered in May 2013 after Supreme Court upheld his conviction and sentence him for possessing illegal arms. He had been granted a month-long furlough in October, 2013, followed by parole in December.
