Thank God!

My favourite Bollywood film actor and megastar Sanjay Dutt was finally released from Yerawada Jail in India, Pune on last Thursday morning, two days after the Supreme Court granted interim bail to him.

*phew*

I was very shocked when I first learnt that he was associated with the 1993 Mumbai serial bombings. If you’ve never heard of this famous incident, well, welcome to the club! It’s probably because we were only 10 years old then. I’m not sure if I knew the term “terrorism” at that age.

FYI, the 1993 Mumbai bombings were a series of thirteen bomb explosions that took place in Bombay (now Mumbai) on 12 March. The coordinated attacks were the most destructive bomb explosions in Indian history. The single-day attacks resulted in over 250 civilian fatalities and 700 injuries.

Dutt was first arrested in 1993 and charged of illegal possession of arms and ammunition, which were allegedly part of the consignment used in the bombings. He was given a rifle and cartridges by gangsters involved in the bombing, unknown of the identity of these weapons. The silly man (I love him but he’s still a really silly fellow to do this kinda stuff) kept these, as there was a Hindu-Muslim riot going on at that time and he felt that the weapons were necessary in order to defend his family (his father was Hindu and his mother a Muslim). Although he denied the charges that he was involved with the larger conspiracy, he was jailed and spent more than 18 months in a jail in Mumbai, before being released on bail.

In 2006, the court found Sanjay Dutt guilty under the Arms Act of possessing an illegal weapon, to which he admitted. He was cleared, however, of the charges of terrorism and conspiracy.

In January 2007, his luck seemed to run out as a kpo person filed an Intervener’s Application, which opposed his release in the 1993 bombings case. In his application to the court, this kpo person argued that there was a great deal of contrast between how a court treated Sanjay Dutt’s case and how a court treated a case in which he himself was involved as an accused. In his case, he had been acquitted 16 years after he was arrested in a false case of planting a bomb in 1990. This kpo person compared this treatment with Sanjay Dutt’s case and noted that one of the grounds of Dutt’s application for seeking time to surrender was that he was the only earning member of the family and also that Sanjay Dutt was on bail for more than 12 years earning enough to make provisions for his family in case of a jail sentence. This kpo person also argued that Dutt was mature enough at the time of buying illegal weapons, and did not deserve a reduced jail term. Though the intervener application filed by this kpo person was eventually rejected by the court, it nevertheless raised doubt against of prosecution, the State Government of Maharashtra and the Indian Judiciary.

So yes, it’s this kpo person who ultimately, even though indirectly, caused Sanjay Dutt to be sentenced to 6 years of rigorous imprisonment on July 2007. Luckily, after 37 days behind bars, Dutt is finally released, even if it’s just on an interim bail.

If you ask me, I never believe that he’s really involved in the terrorist attack as he has a incredibly good reputation in Bollywood for being a very kind soul. But undoubtedly, as even his mum had said so, he’s far from being the smartest person around. -_- 华人说: “傻人有傻福。” but this doesn’t seem to apply in his case. Well, at least he’s out now, although the court will hear his case after 6 months, meaning that his relief might only be of that period.

You are a silly boy, Sanju.

(Dutt’s mum Nargis, also a famous actress, with baby Dutt)

Sanju out of jail also means that he can continue filming the 3rd movie in the ever popular “Munna Bhai” series – Munna Bhai Chale Amerika!!! I’ve seen the trailer on YouTube (it’s funny cause they shoot the trailer before the entire movie, do all movies do that?) and even though there’s no English subtitles and I don’t understand a single word they were saying (except for the occasional English here and there), it’s still bloody funny!

Can’t wait for the movie to come out and hopefully it’ll screen in Singapore haha! Don’t laugh. It’s totally possible. Nowadays more and more Singapore theatres are screening Hindi films, eg Aaja Nachle, Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal  (new one starring my favourite funny man, Arshad Warsi). These movies are nothing compared to the Munna Bhai movies, so if these are released locally, I don’t see why Munna Bhai Chale Amerika won’t be hehe.

The third installment has both Munna and Circuit preparing to go to America. The tagline for this movie is actually “Save America” haha!!!