Wat lag gayi mamu

In a sense provoking article by TVR Shenoy, “Nobody is above the law, Mr Sanjay Dutt“, he points out why he is not so sorry about Munna bhai being jailed. I’m a big fan of some of Sanjay Dutt’s movies starting from Vaastav to Munna bhai series and the little known Anthony Kaun Hai? But how moral or immoral are we in sympathizing with him? And not appreciating the law taking its own course for once. True there’s a lot of political vendetta beginning from the time he was arrested in 1993. After a special meeting between Bal Thackeray and the late Mr. Sunil Dutt, Sanjay was surprisingly left off and after a long tryst with the law and courts, the verdict was devastating to most people. Six years is too much especially after such a long struggle they say, what about the punishment if he hadn’t acted in the now so popular peace-loving and emotionally moving movies. Is it to cold to think about him and keep his movie charisma separate? Why are we so hippocratic in our choices? Always blaming the justice system for not being strong enough against celebrities and political families (Jessica lal case, Nitish Katara case, Bala Krishna aka shooting star), and for once an appropriate action is taken against a popular actor and the whole film industry comes out in support. The camaraderie point is well taken, and I’m happy about it, but why blame the judge and the justice system.

Coming to the harshness, Sanjay Dutt was a self confessed drug addict and should have been jailed long long ago for 10 years, according to the Narcotic drugs and psychotropics substances act of the Indian Penal Code. Other crimes include carrying firearms and having links with mafia.

I’m no lawyer and not even remotely connected to the details, but I would have been saddened if Sanjay was convicted as a terrorist and burdened with 14 years imprisonment. Six years is probably harsh or harsher, but no way does it mean justice wasn’t done. I have a new found respect for the judge and his profession. While the media goes into a frenzy about 50 crores riding on Dutt and his mosquito coils and shared toilets, there are probably hundreds of people suffering for crimes they did not commit or cutting through their punishment they don’t really deserve. Everyone deserves sympathy, not just actors, and the blatant media partiality is somewhat saddening.