Sanjay Dutt surrenders before TADA court, requests 'electric cigarette'

Dutt was accompanied into the box for convicts by his family members, Priya Dutt, Maanyata Dutt and Owen Roncon.u00a0Maanyata held hands with her husband and constantly comforted him.

Dutt, dressed in blue sneakers and jeans, with a white kurta, looked haggard and had bloodshot, baggy eyes. His family members meanwhile, looked solemnly on.

Actor Sanjay Dutt at TADA Court, mobbed by people. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Appearing on behalf of the accused, Advocate Rizwan Merchant told the court of special judge GA Sanap that he was entitled to facilities inside prison.

Merchant arguing on behalf of Dutt urged the court to furnish him with an ‘electronic cigarette' inside jail.

"It is a form of medication. I have been told to quit smoking because my cholesterol and triglycerides are high. I am such a chainsmoker that if I don't smoke I get headaches and migraine attacks. It is not a cigarette. It is a medicated tube containing 15% nicotine," said Dutt through his lawyer Merchant.

Disinclined to buy such an argument, Judge Sanap jokingly pointed to Merchant and said, "This is prescribed by this doctor!"

Apart from the electronic cigarette, Dutt requested for medication for his Stenosis, an ailment of the arteries in Dutt's legs which requires medication to prevent the arteries from bursting.

The court allowed Dutt to have these medicines with him. "He should also be allowed a thin mattress and thin pillow as a vein is jutting out of his back," Merchant added.

Merchant also argued that serving a sentence was for ‘detention, not deprivation', and therefore Dutt was permitted certain basic facilities.

For Nalwalla, the court has allowed diet ‘homemade' food.

Arguing for Dutt, Merchant told the court, "Please allow my family to visit me. If I go in now, I can't meet them for a month." Dutt wanted his two sisters and his brothers-in-law, and his wife and children to be allowed to meet him.

The judge declined this request, and told Merchant to approach the jail authorities instead.

Dutt's kin may be made to run from pillar to post to get access to Dutt until procedural formalities regarding their identity verifications are completed by the police.

The court has completed its procedures and the star has headed to the department to finish final formalities. A police van waits for him below the court, to take him on to jail. u00a0