Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, sentenced to five years in jail in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case, “is not a criminal or a terrorist” but only behaved like an “immature child,” Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh said yesterday.
“He is not a criminal or terrorist. The atmosphere was bad in 1993 and he behaved like an immature child,” Singh told reporters here.
The Congress leader said the actor was at the time under the impression that his father Sunil Dutt was being targeted for supporting the Muslim cause, “so he may have done it.”
“He made a mistake and paid the price for it by going to jail for 18 months,” Singh said.
Press Council of India chairman and former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju and many other political parties have come in support of Dutt.
The Supreme Court last week upheld the conviction of the actor under the Arms Act by a TADA - Terrorists and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act) - court, and sent him to five years in prison.
Dutt was asked to surrender within four weeks.
Meanwhile, a Kerala-based non-government organisation has petitioned President Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A K Antony to dismiss Malayalam superstar Mohanlal from Territorial Army where he is an honorary lieutenant colonel for speaking out against Dutt’s conviction.
The Malayalam actor had posted on his Facebook wall that Dutt “certainly deserves our compassion and help to put this chapter behind him once and for all” and “I sincerely hope and pray that he is shown the leniency he truly deserves and is granted a pardon.”
He said Dutt has been his colleague and friend over the last 20 years, adding the Bollywood star had been a reformed and good citizen, a loving family man and a person who has braved adversity and come out stronger and better.
However, Eby J Jose, chairman of Mahatma Gandhi National Foundation in a letter to the president and defence minister, wanted the superstar, who was inducted into the voluntary force to help the army in emergencies, to be subjected to court martial.
Mohanlal joined the Territorial Army as an honorary llieutenant colonel on July 9, 2009 and he is the first and only actor who has been conferred this title. He had also completed a few training sessions at army camps for the voluntary arm which used to participate in military operations in supporting roles.
“Besides being inducted into TA, he has been awarded Padma Shree, and he has the obligation to respect the nation’s laws and its ethos,” said Jose. “We have been closely watching his activities since he was accorded the nation’s third highest civilian honour in 2001.”
The 52-year-old who has won four national awards during his acting career spanning over 35 years has some 700,000 followers on Facebook. He also comments on socio-political issues regularly on blog.thecompleteactor.com
Nearly 8,000 followers liked his Facebook comments on the sentencing of Dutt while 1,250 of them shared the entry. More than 2,000 of his followers commented about it.
“To be fair, he may have been more of an adventurer who slipped, than a criminal with the wrong bent. He has just been found guilty of possessing illegal arms,” wrote one of them.