Calls grow for Bollywood's Sanjay Dutt to be pardoned
Political leaders, judges and actors have joined the growing clamour for Sanjay Dutt, one of Bollywood's most popular stars, to be pardoned for his role in the 1993 Mumbai bombings in which more than 250 were killed.
Sanjay Dutt is regarded as Bollywood royalty in India Photo: AFP/Getty Images
By Dean Nelson, New Delhi
1:35PM GMT 26 Mar 2013
Dutt was jailed for six years in 2005 for storing an automatic rifle, handgun and ammunition given to him by the notorious Mumbai gangster Abu Salem, who was later convicted of being one of the terrorists who coordinated 13 bomb attacks in the city which left 257 dead and hundreds injured.
The actor had said he had feared his part-Muslim family would be targeted in the communal violence which flared at the time and the weapons were for their protection.
He served 18 months of his sentence before he was released on bail. India's Supreme Court last week ruled however that he must return to serve another three and a half years of a reduced sentence in jail. Dutt is regarded as Bollywood royalty in India – his parents Sunil and Nargis Dutt were greatly loved actors too – and the court's order provoked an outpouring of sympathy among political leaders, fellow Bollywood stars and even a former Supreme Court judge, who said his age at the time of the offence, the long years which have since passed, his charity work and young family should have been given greater consideration.
Mamata Bannerjee, chief minister of West Bengal and leader of the Trinamool Congress Party became the latest leader to offer her support.
"I have received many requests from civil society and film personalities to see that Sanjay does not suffer more. Though it is not in my hand, I feel that he has already suffered a lot for the blunder he committed earlier. From complete wreck, he has again picked up his career to unfold his potential," she said.
Congress Party general secretary Digvijaya Singh said Dutt was neither a criminal nor a terrorist and had committed his offence "as a kid," despite the fact that the actor was 34 at the time. Former Supreme Court judge Justice Markandey Katju has written to the governor of Maharashtra asking for Dutt to be pardoned.
MPs Jaya Prada and Jaya Bachchan, both former actors, and Amar Singh, have also lobbied the governor for a pardon.
The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has criticised calls for his pardon and said all must be subject to the law, regardless of wealth or celebrity.
