November 03, 2007	Saturday	Shawwal 21, 1428

NEW DELHI, Nov 2: India’s Supreme Court on Friday said imprisoned Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt would have to wait until Nov 20 to appeal for bail after being jailed for possessing weapons.

Chief justice K. G. Balakrishan said he will “entertain” Dutt’s appeal only after the court reopens following a major Hindu festival.

Dutt is being held in a high-security cell in western Pune city.

The burly actor was sentenced to six years in prison in July for holding illegal weapons from the plotters of the 1993 Mumbai bombings, which killed 257 people and wounded 800.

But because of a technicality — Dutt had not seen a copy of the 4,340-page judgment against him — he had been out on temporary bail since August and only returned to prison on Oct 22.

The superstar admitted to buying a Kalashnikov assault rifle but insisted he only did so to protect his family from sectarian violence.

During his brief time on the outside, Dutt kept busy completing movie contracts with six films in production and Rs750m of Bollywood money riding on him.—AFP