Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Sanjay Dutt: Crime and Punishment

I think there is just too much being said about Sanjay Dutt being sent to jail about the fact that the sentence has been harsh – I do not know the legalities of the sentence nor, frankly do I care. I have nothing against Sanjay Dutt but am arguing the fact that this whole debate is unnecessary and a waste of precious time.

My take on the issue is that the law took its course – yes it took 14 long years, but it did catch up. I understand the fact that Sanjay Dutt has had problems in life – so will most of the common people. He got caught – and the fact that he has reformed since then cannot be brandished around to say that he should have been given a lesser sentence. Why should he be given a lesser sentence? Would someone give a lesser sentence to Sivarasan and Subha if they had reformed after assassinating Rajiv Gandhi? No we cannot – While the analogy might be too harsh, the point that I am trying to make is the fact that a crime is a crime – there is no such thing as a lesser crime or a more horrific one, and each crime deserves a punishment, no matter what.

Yes, I agree that he is a good actor, has done much for society has a gained sympathy from the Bollywood insiders and his fans – but if you go back to 1994/95 – it was the same Bollywood fraternity that ditched him saying he was a terrorist and Mahesh Bhatt had to rally around with superstars such as Shah Rukh Khan to get him back into the industry. At that time, Sanjay Dutt was a less bankable actor than he is today; in fact his career actually took off only after that period with a string of hits. At this point around 100 Crores is riding on his films and that will hurt the industry and which is why the industry is saying that the verdict has been harsh.

Moreover, what I truly do not understand is the fact that greats such as Dilip Kumar and all are actually filing affadavits stating that he has reformed and he has gone through too much in life and that life has already punished him! This is quite silly.

While I wish that he gets some leeway from the Supreme Court – We cannot condone the fact that he did actually buy AK 47 and later tried to destroy the evidence. This is clearly against the law of the land. If a Paris Hilton can go to the jail for the screw ups that she did, I can’t see why Sanjay Dutt cannot do the same. We would like our politicians who get caught taking bribes etc. to be jailed and yet we want a popular actor who has done a crime get away scot free – what are we a nation of hypocrites?

The media, for want of better news also plays the whole issue up and whips up passions that need not be whipped. Why can’t the mass media follow up on scandals like the MPs who have tried to smuggle people abroad, take up the rights of the people against the MPs taking bribes for asking questions? Isn’t it their job, nay responsibility, to see that the nation prospers or are they here just to fill their coffers by having round tables on Sanjay’s sentence?


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

yeho ho mate!!!!!!!
very well said...hates off ;)

Anonymous said...

couldnt have said it better..

Anonymous said...

hey buddy.. nicely written.. just heard you were on blogspot .. ajit here!

keep writing.