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| Two significant judicial verdicts | | |
Two verdicts delivered by two separate courts on Tuesday, in two separate cases, are of great significance and have far reaching fall out. Acquittal of film star Sanjay Dutt in the conspiracy charge in 1993 blasts case, but his conviction under Arms Act by a special TADA Court in Mumbai has come as a mixed bag of relief and disappointment to the actor himself as well as to a large number of his fans. The son of a famous film star of yester years and an active social activist, Late Sunil Dutt, Sanjay Dutt has the consolation that the stigma of his having links with the terrorists who triggered erial blasts in Mumbai in 1993, has been washed out by the TADA Court which acquitted him of the charge of conspiracy in the case. Although he is still facing prospects of imprisonment ranging from five to ten years, convicted under the Arms Act for possessing Ak 56 Riffle and a pistol, yet his acquittal from the charge of conspiracy by the a pecial TADA Court judge P.D. Kode who observed "During my reasoning I have not found him (Sanjay) to be a terrorist" should be a matter of relief to all the admirers of the superstar and family friends of Dutts. Sanjay Dutt however had already undergone imprisonment for 18 months as under
trial, before his release on bail. With this he has also undergone a trauma and mental stress on account of the charge of being an accomplice of terrorists, of which charge he has now been absolved. It goes to the credit of somewhat spoiled child of a great social activist Sunil Dutt, who during his lifetime fought for several high causes, defending the rights of the oppressed, that throughout his trial he conducted himself creditably, fully cooperating with the court and it as in acknowledgement of this fact perhaps that the judge has not ordered for mmediately taking Dutt into police custody and lodging him in the jail, but gave his counsel to put up an application seeking time for Dutt to surrender to court and thus extending his bail till December 19. In the other verdict delivered by a Delhi Court the Union Minister for COAL and Chief of Jarkahnd Mukti Morcha Shibu Soren was found guilty in the abduction and murder of his former private secretary Shashinath Jha 12 years ago. Shibu Soren who had earlier at the time he was charge sheeted for the murder had remained absconding for many days, making a history of his sort that a union minister evaded his arrest by going underground. However later, on the advise of some wise friends, Shibu Soran had to surrender before the court and go to prison. He was divested of his ministerial post, to which he was
re-inducted by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after he was bailed out. However his conviction now has left no option with the Prime Minster than to seek his resignation. The judge who convicted Soren on the charge of abduction and murder has also cited the motive behind the crime. The victim Shashinath Jha was privy to the bribe taken by Shibu Soren to save the P.v. Narsimnha Rao government in January 1993 no confidence motion. Jha had been demanding money from Soren to keep silent. It prompted Soren to hatch a conspiracy along with some others to eliminate him. As a fallout of this judgement the memory of noises over JMM MPs taking bribe for voting against the no confidence motion will be revived once again and the opposition has got an andle to put the Congress government in wrong. The conduct of the Prime Minister as well as Congress President and UPA Chairperson in inducting Soren back into the union cabinet, without waiting for the final verdict in the murder case against himself will also be a subject of controversy, putting the Congress in defensive and the opposition mounting charges on the UPA government.
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