Aug 21, 2007 11:58 AM
5056 Views
I was in India for a work cum holiday break during the Sanjay Dutt hearing and subsequent arrest. News channels and front pages of newspapers daily had some news about him, his arrest, his family, his film history etc etc. I really don’t see why his arrest has created such a huge uproar in India.
People were crying on the street, offering pujas and including him in their prayers for his wellbeing and release. The attention to his case has eciplised whatever else that was happening in India at that time. The floods, the hundreds of people who died in them, the lack of food, the lack of proper housing and infrastructure for so many millions in India but all the news channels and newspapers focused on was Sanjay Dutt.
I do agree that Sanjay Dutt is a huge star and has made many memorable movies namely the Munnabhai series which never fail to make me cry whenever I see it. His father was a great man and in recent years even Sanjay Dutt has followed in his footsteps in philanthropy and public service.
He forms deep friendships and is always a dependable friend and colleague. He set up his own production company with Sanjay Gupta (white feather films) and has made a couple of hard hitting films. Everyone that knows him says he’s such a nice guy. But do nice guys get caught in possession of firearms?
So just because he is nice, he should be released? So just because he has already served jail for 16 months, had been convicted under the Arms Act for possessing a 9 mm pistol and an AK-56 rifle he should be free?
There are countless criminals rotting in Indian jails who deserve more sympathy that Mr Dutt but who cares about them? They are faceless, nameless entities who exist in the judicial cycle of India. They do not have the media and the people of India praying for their release. These “criminals” do not have famous families or huge bank accounts.
They may be in jail for petty offences but they will stay in jail because they are just ordinary people like you and me. They do not Shah Rukh Khan organizing a petition among the film fraternity to free them. And these people defiantly not have 100 crore of rupees riding on them. Sanjay Dutt is an actor, a star, he is Munnabhai!
Currently I am in Singapore, so I do not face the daily onslaught and updates about the Sanjay Dutt case. But yesterday he was given interim bail from jail- why am I not surprised? The only question I want to pose to the ordinary man, to you, the readers does he deserve it?
If it was you or me in jail, would anyone even give damn? Think about it. Cheers.
