Mumbai, April 21: The legal battle is still on between Sanjay Dutt's lawyers and the SC's judgement upholding his conviction under the Arms Act and sentencing him to five years in jail.
Actor Sanjay Dutt, who recently won a month's extension to surrender, has now moved the Supreme Court (SC) by way of a review petition against its March 21 judgement.
A Delhi-based legal team prepared and filed the petition on Friday. It may be heard next week before the same bench. The SC had not interfered with the TADA court's guilty verdict against Dutt for possession of arms before the March 12, 1993, Mumbai serial blasts. He was held guilty only under the Arms Act for possessing an automatic rifle in a notified area, but was acquitted under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, which had also been invoked against him.
The trial court had specifically said the actor was not a terrorist and accepted his confessional statement that he had kept the sophisticated AK-56 rifle for self defence because of the communal tensions in the city that year.
His contention in the SC was that a confession made under Tada cannot form main evidence for offences under other Acts against an accused, when the accused is acquitted under Tada. His contention in the review petition is that the three-judge bench judgment in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, which held a confession under Tada would be valid even elsewhere and which the SC had relied on in the 1993 blasts case against Dutt, must be reconsidered.
The petition filed to review a binding decision of the SC is based on an apparent error in a judgment sought to be reviewed. A strong case has to be made to get a review, but if the plea is dismissed, a curative petition can be filed to ensure that there is no gross miscarriage of justice.
A review petition has to be filed within 30 days of the date of judgement or order. One of his lawyers said the matter would be heard next week. The SC had, while giving him a four-week extension to surrender, made it clear that it would grant no further time. Dutt has seven films on the floor in various stages of completion.
