Dutt to get TADA court order next month

Actor Sanjay Dutt, convicted in the 1993 serial blasts case and out on interim bail, is likely to get a copy of the judgment possibly only after October 15, a lawyer in his legal team said on Friday.

"The order is likely to be handed out from October 15, but it cannot be said when Sanjay will be given his copy," Farhana Shah, an advocate who is part of the legal team defending Dutt, said.

However, there is no definite date by which the judgment copies would be ready to be given to the convicts, court sources said.

Earlier, Dutt's lawyers had been given September 27 as a tentative date for collecting the copy of the order, but later it became clear that copies were not likely to be ready before month-end.

One hundred convicts, 12 of whom have been sentenced to death, await copies of their judgment approximately a month after the special TADA court finished pronouncing them.

Dutt, sentenced to six years rigorous imprisonment for illegal possession of a pistol and an AK-56 assault rifle and was in Yeravada jail in Pune for a month, is presently out on interim bail granted by the Supreme Court.

Dutt was ordered by the Supreme Court to surrender and seek regular bail once he received his copy of the judgment.