Yesterday night after Sanjay Dutt was granted parole for the second time in quick succession, a friend of ours wrote the following on his Facebook wall: “Dear Sanjay, My birthday is fast arriving in January. Please come and see me as well. I am sure you won’t disappoint.” The satire in the above statement is hard to miss. Sanjay, who is a convicted criminal today, gets out on parole with ridiculous ease and for reasons that will never hold good for other low profile prisoners. But for the holier than thou Sanjay, the jail administration seems to be more than willing to bend its rules. Sanjay, who had earlier spent the entire month of October at home, has now been granted a month’s parole for the second time because his wife Manyata is reportedly ill. But all those claims of Manyata being ill were debunked when a leading tabloid published photographs of the star wife attending a special screening of R…Rajkumar and partying with Shahid Kapoor and Krishika Lulla (Eros’ Sunil Lulla’s wife) at the latter’s birthday party at midnight. So much for his wife not keeping well. But assuming that his wife is really ill; can Sanjay still be legally granted parole? To clarify the same, we spoke to Advocate Arun Panickar, a criminal lawyer practicing at the Bombay High Court. Avers Arun, “The Government’s decision to grant parole to Mr. Sanjay Dutt on account of the illness of his wife is in flagrant violation of prison rules governing the grant of parole to a convict. It appears that the reasons cited for parole by Mr. Sanjay Dutt is fallacious as his wife was seen partying a day before his release. Under the Indian system, a convict can be released on parole only in case of the contingencies mentioned in Rule 19 framed in exercise of powers conferred by clauses (5) and(28) of Section 59 of the Prisons Act, 1894 (IX of1894) are met. The Rule 19 is reproduced herein below verbatim:- When a prisoner may be released on parole -- A prisoner may be released on parole for such period as the Competent Authority referred to in rule 18 in its discretion may order, in cases of serious illness, or death of any member of the prisoner’s family or of his nearest relatives or for any other sufficient cause. The bare perusal of aforesaid rule establishes beyond a shadow of doubt that the government’s decision to grant parole to Mr. Sanjay Dutt was solely on the basis of his political Patronage and celebrity status. The grant of parole to Mr. Sanjay Dutt is going to erode the faith of people in Indian Judicial System.” Given the fact that Sanjay gets parole with alarming ease, it won’t be too wrong to say that the wheels of justice spin differently for Sanjay as compared to other mango (aam) prisoners. What’s surprising to note is the pin-drop silence adopted by the usually vociferous film industry in this particular issue. Not even a little whimper of protest can be heard from any quarters. May be the yardstick used to measure their own kith and kin is different for our Bollywood celebs.