Powerful push for pardon to Sanjay Dutt

Will Sanjay Dutt walk free? The Maharashtra governor is authorised to take a call if Dutt appeals before him.

Barely 24 hours after the Supreme Court gave its verdict in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts saying Dutt will have to spend time behind bars, his fan following has gone beyond Bollywood and reached the political circles in Delhi.

While Press Council of India chairman justice (retd) Markandey Katju ignited a controversy on Thursday by saying the governor should pardon Dutt on humanitarian grounds, NCP and Samajwadi Party leaders too said the same thing on Friday.

“Sanjay Dutt’s parents have done social service. He himself has done some good things like promoting Gandhian philosophy in movies. He has two small children and suffered for 20 years,” Katju said. “I am not questioning the Supreme Court verdict. I am raising this as a citizen, not as retired Supreme Court judge.”

The Dutts have long been Congress loyalists. Sunil Dutt was a Congress MP and the party nominated his wife Nargis to the Rajya Sabha. The actor’s sister Priya Dutt is now a Congress MP.

Those seeking pardon have quoted the 1959 KM Nanavati versus state of Maharashtra case where the then governor, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, sister of Jawaharlal Nehru, had pardoned naval officer Kawas Manekshaw Nanavati.

Nanavati, close to the Nehru-Gandhi family, was convicted of killing his friend, Prem Bhagwandas Ahuja, after discovering that he was in a relationship with his wife Sylvia.

The Congress tried to play it safe with I&B minister Manish Tewari saying the authorities will take cognisance of the matter at the appropriate level. “Justice Katju has been a very eminent judge of the Supreme Court. Whenever he articulates a position... people both inside and outside the government listen to it carefully,” Tewari told reporters outside Parliament.

Why bend law for rich & famous?

He, however, said those in the government both at the centre and the state have the responsibility of dealing with the issue and taking cognisance of justice Katju’s statement. 

SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav said: “This is an ordinary case of Section 25 of the Arms Act, which provides for six months to one year imprisonment. The jail term is too long. Since it’s a high-profile case, he got more punishment, which should be reduced.”

Law minister Ashwini Kumar too said the governor has the powers to pardon.

The BJP, principal opposition party, took a dig at Katju. BJP MP Balbir Punj said: “Katju has forgotten that he is no longer the judge of the Supreme Court. He is the press council chairman. The Supreme Court decision should be honoured otherwise people will feel there are two laws — one for the poor and one for the rich and famous.”

@iftikhargilani