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Sanjay gets 6-year jail term

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Press Trust Of India Mumbai
Actor Sanjay Dutt was today given a six-year jail term in the 1993 serial blasts case by a special court here that rejected his plea for leniency and said some of his acts were "eminently dangerous".
 
Judge P D Kode of the Tada court, who cancelled Dutt's bail and ordered the police to take him into custody, however, told the star not to lose faith in himself as he was "number one" in films and had a long way to go.
 
Kode, who awarded death to 12 convicts and life imprisonment to 20, rejected Dutt's plea for more time to surrender. The 48-year-old actor was also fined Rs 25,000.
 
"Sir, I made a mistake 14 years ago. Please give me some time to surrender," a visibly shocked Dutt pleaded in court with folded hands after his hopes of being freed under the Probation of Offenders Act (POA) were dashed.
 
Rejecting his plea, Kode said, "Act till the age of 100, I have only taken away six years." Noting that Dutt was "number one in the film line", Kode said he had liked the actor's performances very much and advised him to have faith in himself.
 
Dutt will appeal against the sentence in the Supreme Court, his counsel Satish Maneshinde said. "We will appeal against the order in the Supreme Court ...He (Dutt) was not shocked and he has accepted it with a heavy heart," Maneshinde said.
 
The star was convicted in November 2006 for illegally possessing a 9mm pistol and an AK-56 rifle but acquitted of more serious charges under the defunct anti-terror TADA law.
 
Dismissing the defence's argument that the weapons were acquired by Dutt for self-defence, Kode termed it an "eminently dangerous act".
 
Dutt, who turned 48 on Sunday, looked gaunt as he sat in court, wearing a white shirt and blue jeans and sporting a 'tilak' on his forehead.
 
Earlier, his friend Rusi Mulla was given relief under the POA, raising the hopes of Dutt and fellow convicts Kersi Adjania and Yusuf Nalwalla that they would get similar treatment.
 
But the judge sentenced Adjania to two years' rigorous imprisonment and gave a five-year term to Nalwalla before pronouncing the sentence for Dutt.
 
The court said Dutt had not merely committed a criminal act but also told three others to commit criminal acts on his behalf. This, it said, showed a "high element of criminality".

 
 

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First Published: Aug 01 2007 | 12:00 AM IST

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