The Supreme Court of India finally declared its verdict in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blast case. It took almost 20 years after the incident to complete all legal formalities and deliver the judgment. Sanjay Dutt was one of the accused in the long list of people accused of doing something that was related to the occurrence of those blasts. He was not convicted for involvement in the actual terror plot of bomb blasts but was found guilty of possession of illegal arms and the TADA court sentenced him 6 years in prison. Supreme Court upheld that verdict but reduced the sentence to 5 years (minimum in such cases). He already spent 18 months in jail so if the situation remains as it is then he is supposed to go back to jail for three and a half years more. Since the verdict about Sanjay was declared there have been a lot of reactions from the film fraternity and other eminent people about this sentence and whether he deserves this harsh punishment or not.
Sanjay Dutt's entire life has been like a roller coaster ride. There are so many ups and downs in his life that I think there may not be any other celebrity who has experienced so many ups and downs in their life. Starting from his drug addiction, the death of his mother (actress Nargis), his failed relationships, his successful career as an actor, his conviction in a terror plot, then his short jail term, back in movies while on bail, delivering two most successful and admired movies of Hindi cinema (Munnabhai series), getting married again, getting back family life which he dreamed of his entire life, and now the possibility of going back to jail. His life itself is like some thriller movie where you never know what might happen next. But this post is not about him or his life but about the reactions generated from various quarters after the Supreme Court delivered this verdict about him.
From those reactions it's very clear that there are two sets of laws in any country or at least the same law is interpreted in two different ways depending on the convict. I am not talking only about India but about any country, one law for the rich and famous and one for the poor or common people. I am not saying that rich and famous can get away with anything they do because of their money and fame. NO. This is not true and this is not what I mean. Rather, sometimes they get punished just to set an example and get in trouble because of their celebrity stature. This is again wrong and should not happen. But even keeping that in mind, if one looks at Sanjay's case one can clearly see the sympathy generated for him and the large outcry for punishment being too hard and the request for his pardon from various quarters of society is clearly because of his image as a rusty but gold-hearted man. I also like some of his movies, especially the Munnabhai series, those are my all-time favorite movies. But I am not a blind follower or a crazy fan of anyone. So, even though I feel bad for him I can not claim that the judiciary has been unfair to him.
Every convicted person has a family, many of them have kids, and many terribly regret the crime they committed. In many cases, the convicted person is the sole earning member of that family, and the entire family depends on him/her for their survival. Sometimes their crime is trivial but they lack the resources and money to fight for justice and are left with no option but to face the punishment. All these incidents happen daily in countries like India and everyone including me, all these celebrities, politicians, and stars know about this. Especially the film industry clearly knows about these types of incidents because they make movies based on some of these stories but even after all this they still feel that only Sanjay should be pardoned. What about many others like him? I can understand if they are speaking as his friend, well-wisher, or relative they have full right to show their support and sympathy to him even after knowing that he violated the law. Actually, convicts need support from their loved ones to get reformed, friends and family members of most convicted persons behave like this. So, they are not doing anything radically different as everyone likes to support their closed ones. But they should at least have the courage to say that he made a mistake but we are going to support him because he is our friend and we love him no matter what. But, please don't try to paint him as a "victim" because he is not a victim. At the same time, Sanjay should not get harsher treatment just because he is a big star. He should have the right to explore all legal options that are available to any convict to defend himself. Making his case a special case because of his celebrity status would be a cruel joke on people who lack these resources just because they are not rich and famous.
I am not writing this to suggest what should be done and what shouldn't, whether Sanjay Dutt is guilty or not, or what is a proper punishment for his crime, this is not my job to decide. I am sure law will take its own course, in fact, it did, it was a long, 20 years long, process to deliver this judgment. We need to do something to make this process faster. 20 years is a very long period, many things can change in this long time and it can add complications to the case. It will be interesting to see in which direction things proceed in his case. I am sure he is strong enough to deal with these setbacks in his life but at the same time, we need to think about many people who are not as lucky as him to get so much support but also deserve a second chance in their lives. Can we be supportive of them also? if yes then let's do it and let's have a proper mechanism to do that. If not, then why not? Why Sanjay's case is special then? Let this incident be an opportunity to improve some things in our criminal justice system and not an opportunity to take sides, show loyalty, or play politics.
From those reactions it's very clear that there are two sets of laws in any country or at least the same law is interpreted in two different ways depending on the convict. I am not talking only about India but about any country, one law for the rich and famous and one for the poor or common people. I am not saying that rich and famous can get away with anything they do because of their money and fame. NO. This is not true and this is not what I mean. Rather, sometimes they get punished just to set an example and get in trouble because of their celebrity stature. This is again wrong and should not happen. But even keeping that in mind, if one looks at Sanjay's case one can clearly see the sympathy generated for him and the large outcry for punishment being too hard and the request for his pardon from various quarters of society is clearly because of his image as a rusty but gold-hearted man. I also like some of his movies, especially the Munnabhai series, those are my all-time favorite movies. But I am not a blind follower or a crazy fan of anyone. So, even though I feel bad for him I can not claim that the judiciary has been unfair to him.
Every convicted person has a family, many of them have kids, and many terribly regret the crime they committed. In many cases, the convicted person is the sole earning member of that family, and the entire family depends on him/her for their survival. Sometimes their crime is trivial but they lack the resources and money to fight for justice and are left with no option but to face the punishment. All these incidents happen daily in countries like India and everyone including me, all these celebrities, politicians, and stars know about this. Especially the film industry clearly knows about these types of incidents because they make movies based on some of these stories but even after all this they still feel that only Sanjay should be pardoned. What about many others like him? I can understand if they are speaking as his friend, well-wisher, or relative they have full right to show their support and sympathy to him even after knowing that he violated the law. Actually, convicts need support from their loved ones to get reformed, friends and family members of most convicted persons behave like this. So, they are not doing anything radically different as everyone likes to support their closed ones. But they should at least have the courage to say that he made a mistake but we are going to support him because he is our friend and we love him no matter what. But, please don't try to paint him as a "victim" because he is not a victim. At the same time, Sanjay should not get harsher treatment just because he is a big star. He should have the right to explore all legal options that are available to any convict to defend himself. Making his case a special case because of his celebrity status would be a cruel joke on people who lack these resources just because they are not rich and famous.
I am not writing this to suggest what should be done and what shouldn't, whether Sanjay Dutt is guilty or not, or what is a proper punishment for his crime, this is not my job to decide. I am sure law will take its own course, in fact, it did, it was a long, 20 years long, process to deliver this judgment. We need to do something to make this process faster. 20 years is a very long period, many things can change in this long time and it can add complications to the case. It will be interesting to see in which direction things proceed in his case. I am sure he is strong enough to deal with these setbacks in his life but at the same time, we need to think about many people who are not as lucky as him to get so much support but also deserve a second chance in their lives. Can we be supportive of them also? if yes then let's do it and let's have a proper mechanism to do that. If not, then why not? Why Sanjay's case is special then? Let this incident be an opportunity to improve some things in our criminal justice system and not an opportunity to take sides, show loyalty, or play politics.
Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.
(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)
References:
No comments:
Post a Comment