Sanjay Dutt set to return to prison on Thursday as authorities not yet extended his furlough

MUMBAI: Prison authorities in Pune on Wednesday had yet to decide the furlough extension plea made by actor Sanjay Dutt. The actor who is on a two week furlough from his term in prison will thus return to Yerawada jail on Thursday when his leave ends, said his lawyer.
Advoate Hitesh Jain, Dutt's lawyer told TOI that he was informed that the Khar police has not even received the file from Pune despite the application made a week ago."The papers haven't reached Mumbai from the Pune Prison which is a three-hour ride away," adding, "though technically the law requires action to be taken against a convict on furlough only if he fails to return after 28 days end, on the 29th day, Dutt will abide by the permission in hand and return to prison on January 8. It is the price a celebrity pays."
The actor had returned last month on furlough which the prison authorities had granted for 14 days. His release was a day after the state winter assembly session ended. The state home department conducted an enquiry into his leave after receiving some protests but the minister of state for home said the enquiry had revealed no irregularity and that the leave was properly sanctioned.
Dutt had reached his home in Bandra, a suburb in Mumbai on Christmas eve, and spent time with his twin toddlers, wife Manyata and friends. The team which made PK in which he had a role, had organised a special screening for him and few others and guests included the star Aamir Khan.
The actor is serving a five-year term of rigorous imprisonment for possessing and destroying a prohibited weapon, an AK-56 rifle, just before the 1993 Mumbai blasts that killed 257 people. His conviction was under the Arms Act, by the special trial court which had tried him along with 122 others in the blasts case.
He had applied for furlough, a legally entitled leave which convicts get every year, in October and it was sanctioned in December 2014.
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 for illegal arms possession. He had been granted a month long furlough in October 2013 followed by parole that December.