India's supreme court today ,Thursday March 21st has ordered the Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt, the most high-profile of the 100 men and women who were convicted for the 1993 Mumbai serial bombings, to return to jail for a further three-and-a-half years for the illegal possession of firearms in a case connected to a series of bomb blasts that ripped through Mumbai and were one of the deadliest terror attacks in the country.
The bombings on 12 March 1993 were engineered by a silver smuggler and gangster, Mushtaq "Tiger" Memon, widely seen as revenge for the destruction of the Mughal-era Babri Masjid by Hindu fanatics three months earlier. But the real mastermind behind the attacks was said to be the Muslim underworld kingpin Dawood Ibrahim – in revenge for the attack on the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya by Hindu zealots, a hallowed Islamic site.
Mr. Dutt was sentenced to six years in prison in 2007 for illegal possession of weapons that were supplied to him by men subsequently convicted in the bombing. That court cleared Mr. Dutt of involvement with the bombing plot. He has denied involvement with the attacks and said he asked for the guns to protect his family.
He appealed the decision at the Supreme Court and was let out on bail in 2007. He has remained at liberty since then until today. The court reduced his sentence to five years but said the circumstances and nature of offense was so serious that Mr. Dutt cannot be released on probation. Mr. Dutt, 53 years old, already has spent a cumulative 18 months in jail on related charges.
Mr. Dutt will have to surrender within four weeks to serve the sentence, the court said.
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