Sanjay Dutt files bail petition in Supreme Court

New Delhi/Pune/Lucknow, Aug 7: Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt filed his bail petition in the Supreme Court today, challenging his sentence of six-years of rigorous imprisonment given by a special TADA court under the Arms Act.

Sanjay's bail petition was filed on his behalf by his lawyer, Satish Maneshinde.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has said it would oppose the plea in the apex court.

The Dutt family is challenging the judgement given by a special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) court for the illegal possession of arms on July 31.

Special Judge P D Kode sentenced Dutt to six years imprisonment in prison and fined him Rupees 25,000.

Dutt has already spent nearly 16 months in prison before his release on bail in 1996.

Meanwhile, family and friends of Dutt visited him in the high security P Yerawada jail here.

His younger sister Namrata came along with her husband and actor Kumar Gaurav and another close friend of Sanjay also visited him.

Dutt's sentence has evoked mixed reactions in the public and the media, with conflicting opinions regarding his punishment coming up everyday.

Many people term the actor's sentence as harsh, and feel it should be reduced.

Another faction feels letting him off would be a mockery of justice, as he is a criminal and should be treated as one.

In Lucknow, a fire ritual was performed to pray for his relief.

Fans also chanted hymns and expressed hope for a positive outcome in the Supreme Court, when Dutt's appeal comes up for hearing.

&34;The prayers will definitely have its effect and according to my calculations, relief will come to him within a time span of 2 to 21 months,&34; said Kartikey Chattopadhyay, an astrologer, who performed the prayers.

ANI
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