The Extradition Treaty between Republic of India and Republic of Mauritius was signed at New Delhi on 21.11.2003. The exchange of the Instrument of Ratification of the Treaty took place at Port Louis on 23.06.2008. On 19.04.1993, when Sanjay Dutt was returning after shooting for “Aatish” in Mauritius – there was no Treaty thus. It is Sanjay Dutt’s karma, life has awarded him small mercies. After all, he showed great courage in coming from that shoot, straight into the hands of the law(s) of this country. Very few would have credited him for that rare courage.

Administrative mercy has indeed found Baba fleet in and out of jail. It has little to do with his star status. It was considered in Amit v. State of Maharashtra [2014 ALL MR (Cri) 213]: “it is a matter of anxiety, The Prisons (Bombay Furlough and Parole) Rules, 1959 allows a prisoner to remain outside the jail for 105 Days in a Year”. In Gajanan Babulal v. The State of Maharashtra, [2014 (2) Bom CR (Cri) 544] the constitutional validity of the Rules were upheld, however.

Hon’ble Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer said once, “Court must not rush in where the jailor fears to tread. While the country may not make the prison boss the sole sadistic arbiter of incarcerated humans, the community may be in no mood to hand over central prisons to be run by Courts. Each instrumentality must function within its province [Sobhraj, AIR 1978 SC 1514]. Instead of enquiring into the details of Sanjay Dutt’s incarceration, we should respect him and attack the Rules if we must.

Best wishes. I hope to see you done, one day.

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Prisoner No. 16656