Thursday 21 March 2013

The movie star and the terrorists


Bollywood tough guy actor Sanjay Dutt has been ordered to return to prison for his connection with the explosions in Mumbai in 1993 that killed 257 people.    He has been on bail since 2007, after spending 20 months in gaol, while he appealed against his 6 year sentence for buying weapons from the bombers.

The Indian  Supreme Court has reduced his sentence to 5 years, and ordered to him to return to prison in four weeks to complete the remaining 3 and a half years of his term.   Dutt, the son of a Hindu father and a Muslim mother, had said he needed the weapons to protect his family during inter-communal riots.

The judge who passed the original sentence on the star, had told him: ‘Don’t get perturbed. You have many years to go and work, like the Mackenna’s Gold actor, Gregory Peck.’

On March 12, 1993, 12 bombs went off in Mumbai.   The attack was alleged to have been carried out by the city’s Muslim-dominated underworld in retaliation for riots in which most of the victims were Muslims.   Two key suspects are still at large.

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