Does Sanjay Dutt need 'humanitarian' grounds denied to others?

Munnabhai seems to have got lenient treatment only because he is a celebrity, while other more deserving cases were not considered

For Sanjay Dutt, real life is no different from the reel life.  At present, the problem precisely is: the disadvantage of being Sanjay Dutt. If an unknown person goes to prison, no one knows him. Here he stands out in an adverse way and everyone knows him. This can be quite strenuous for the 53-year-old Bollywood actor. However, the lows and highs that Sanjay has endured — his experiments with drugs, his earlier times in jail, his two divorces and his Bollywood successes — may have strengthened his coping mechanisms.

Psychologists are of the view that the degree of the strain or suffering experienced by a person in jail also hinges on individual personality traits. A person with intimate attachments to family and friends would obviously find it more difficult than someone with weaker bonds.

Projects worth Rs 250 crore and the fate of several Bollywood movies hang in the balance with Sanjay heading back to jail.

It is no exaggeration to say that the importance of being Sanjay Dutt also mitigates a few agonies of life. On Wednesday, a day before the deadline for his surrender ended, Sanjay got partial relief from the Supreme Court, which granted him four weeks’ time on ‘humanitarian’ grounds to surrender before jail authorities to undergo 42 months’ remaining sentence in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case.

The Bollywood star had sought six months time to surrender to complete his seven movies. Sanjay, popular for his role as a do-good gangster in the ‘Munnabhai’ films, is now shooting for Raju Hirani’s P.K. in Mumbai and dubbing for T.P. Aggarwal’s Policegiri. He also needs to shoot a few scenes with Emraan Hashmi for Dharma Productions' Ungli.

On Tuesday, the apex court rejected the review petitions of three 1993 serial blasts convicts — Zaibunissa Kazi, 72, Issaq Hajwane, 76, and Shariff Abdul Gafoor Parker, 88 — seeking extension of time to surrender on the ground that their clemency pleas were pending before the President and that they were also suffering from various ailments. The court rejected their petitions, saying that cannot be a reason for giving them time to surrender.  

The counsel said Gafoor, sentenced to life imprisonment by the apex court for terror-related crimes, was 76  and has been suffering from various ailments. “The petitioner’s condition is so bad that he not only requires constant medical attention but (also) needs an attendant to take care of him…” the petition said.

The plea filed by Hajwane, also sentenced to life imprisonment for terror-related offences, said the convict was 76, and suffered from an ischaemic heart condition.

Zebunissa, a barely literate Muslim woman from a lower middle-class background in Bandra, has suffered two heart attacks in the last 20 years.

Both Zaibunissa and Sanjay were charged under TADA or the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act for aiding and abetting a terrorist act. Zaibunissa was given five years' rigorous imprisonment under the Act. The TADA charges were later dropped against the actor, but upheld against Zaibunissa.

But the verdict came as a shock to Shagufta Kazi whose mother Zaibunissa's mercy plea in the same case was denied. "It is very important to be a celebrity in this country. I had applied on medical grounds. Sanjay Dutt was lucky and I was not," said Shagufta.

Is leniency for Sanjay only because he had suffered a lot and his conduct since then had been good? Does Sanjay deserve special treatment just because he is a star and a celebrity? Will giving Sanjay four weeks relief time to surrender open the floodgates for other similar demands? Will the establishment please stand up and answer these questions in concrete terms? However, poor people who really deserve some relief on medical grounds, their plea was not considered.

Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy said he was also not happy with Wednesday’s order. “The judges have shown extra-ordinary consideration for this person (Sanjay)... this is a ridiculous argument that he has previous commitments and has to complete his movies,” he added.

Before putting a full stop to this piece, it’s relevant to quote Macbeth here: Life is a “tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury / Signifying nothing."