‘Sanjay deserves no mercy’

The application opposing actor Sanjay Dutt’s probation plea led to a lively discussion in the TADA court on Thursday. The application, filed by Abhimanyu Altekar who was acquitted last December in a 16-year-old case involving a blast at the residence of the editor of a Marathi daily, said that Dutt deserved no mercy.

Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said, “Though the application cites no law points or raise any specific allegations against the prosecution or the CBI, we have nothing to say if the court wants to take it on record.” He warned that entertaining the plea could open floodgates for other such applications. Dutt’s lawyer VR Manohar said the application was not maintainable in law as the applicant was not an aggrieved person and had no locus standi.

Judge Kode observed that the application while implicitly casting aspersions on the prosecution did not seem to be intended to help the cause of justice. He said entertaining the plea would violate provisions of law as the applicant had not approached the court through the proper forum. Dismissing the application, Judge Kode directed the prosecution to rise to the occasion and create an impression that sincere efforts were being made in the case. Objecting to this, Nikam said that the direction was unfair as it hinted that the prosecution was not doing its job properly.