No Pardon, But How About Compassion For Sanjay Dutt?

India is the land of gods. We celebrate the divine in its myriad forms, elevating stone idols, animals, and humans to celestial heights. Worship comes easier than its lesser cousin, love. But when our mortal gods shows signs of frailty, adoration often sours into disappointed contempt, be it for a flailing Sachin Tendulkar or Shahrukh Khan or now Sanjay Dutt.

The debate over Dutt’s punishment has followed predictable lines, centred narrowly around his celebrity, i.e. Bollywood divinity. The question is: Does he deserve “special treatment”? His critics condemn calls for clemency as yet more evidence of the celebrity double-standard, while political and Bollywood supporters argue that Dutt is being punished for being a celebrity.

When Sanjay Dutt finally emerged to face the media, he proved both sides wrong. He played neither celebrity victim nor villain, neither declaring his innocence nor demanding ‘special treatment’. He instead revealed himself as wholly human, a middle-aged broken man, weeping even as he tried to maintain the remaining shreds of his dignity.

“All I can tell you is I have not applied for pardon. “There are many other people who deserve pardon. I want to tell with folded hands to the media, the honourable citizens of the country that when I am not going for pardon then there can be no debate about it,” he said, “I am shattered and this is the tough time in my life. With folded hands I request the media and citizens let me be at peace.”

The public breakdown is unlikely to shift the needle of public opinion. Both those baying for his blood and pleading for clemency are uninterested in Sanjay Dutt per se. To one set, he is the symbol of a treasonous, Muslim underworld-loving Bollywood, supported by ‘sickular’ liberals like Shanti Bhushan and Congi-supporters a la Markandeya Katju. To others, he offers a convenient platform for political grandstanding, much like Kamal Hassan offered an excuse to take aim at Jayalalithaa. Hence, Digvijay Singh’s description of Dutt as ‘a great man’ as a means to bolster his party’s ‘secular’ credentials, and take a dig at the Shiv Sena: “Sanjay Dutt, at a young age, in the atmosphere of that time, thought that perhaps the way Sunil Dutt had been raising his voice against communalism and favoured the minorities, then perhaps he could be attacked,”

Dutt is not ‘great’ by any stretch of the imagination, but he is undoubtedly a man, as in merely human. The fact, if acknowledged, may allow us to express compassion without condoning his actions. In the midst of the Bollywood celebrities and politicians clamouring to his side, only one has extended such mercy: Rakhee Gulzar. Her statement is worth reading in its entirety:

It breaks my heart to say this. I love Sanjay like my own child. I’ve been associated with that wonderful family from the time I did Reshma Aur Shera which was my first film with Sunil Dutt saab. Sanjay has grown up in front of me. I remember him as a lonely child. After Nargis’ death Dutt saab got busy with various activities. I remember at the outdoor location of one of my films, Sanjay had lice in his hair and his lips had gone white because of a vitamin deficiency.

He is basically a very loving and affectionate boy. But he got into the wrong company… And look where it has landed him today (here she breaks down). I know how much he has gone through. But to say that his jail term should be pardoned because he has suffered a lot is insensitive to those whose lives were shattered by the 1993 bomb blasts. Instead of spending 20 years pleading innocence and victimisation, Sanjay should’ve accepted he had made a mistake, served his full sentence and started his life afresh.

Instead his advisers, hangers-on and those lawyers are mis-advising him. Today, I see his so-called friends shedding tears and pleading for leniency. If he is pardoned the common people’s faith in the legal system would be shaken. Instead Sanjay should accept the court’s verdict with dignity and serve his sentence. His conscience would be clear. He will be loved and respected a lot more for accepting and abiding by the court’s verdict.

Those who loved Sanjay best and as he is — a troubled man with a difficult childhood who made terrible choices — have never shielded him from the law. As INN reminds us in our last post, it is Sunil Dutt who turned his own son over to the authorities. The same Sunil Dutt also prostrated himself in front of Bal Thackeray to beg for mercy. Such is the love of fathers, and their guilt at having failed their children. 

As his press conference, Sanjay Dutt finally took Rakhee’s advice, and reaffirmed the values of his parents who were good, imperfect people. As is he. Sanjay Dutt does not deserve a pardon. But in embracing that difficult truth, he revealed himself to be worthy of our compassion.