Sunjay Dutt got a five year jail sentence last week and most people that I hear talking about it find it either funny, or sad. I on the other hand, think that the whole thing a case of delayed justice and so find it nothing short of heartbreaking. Okay, so let’s take a good look at this one thing at a time. How exactly does this work? A celebrity manages to commit a crime and is unlucky/stupid enough to get caught. The media goes all over the case with many assertions and interviews just to fill in the empty punctures. The celebrity has a press conference (with samosa and chai at the end, thank you), wears white (it HAS to be white) and ‘apologizes’. Then there are discussions ranging from broad topics such as the how nice a person the person in question is, how s/he helps the poor, to how they can’t imagine something this awful happening to them . Well, honestly that is all bullshit. I know it, you know it, and they know it too.
Weirdly, Salman Khan runs an NGO called Being Human. A man who is involved in cases for killing people and animals alike runs an NGO called BEING HUMAN. What part of that is not funny? Just because he is spending money (and maybe even his time and energy) on an NGO does not unknot what went before. I’m not asking anyone to be unforgiving, or mean. I’m probably just begging people to be just a little less magnanimous and a tiny bit more rational. Sunjay Dutt is a man who is going to jail for possessing weapons and having the knowledge of a blast that killed many people; People who had families, friends, co-workers and classmates. People who had complete lives and plans and they did not get to live long enough to fulfil them. I’m not saying he is solely responsible for it, I’m just saying he’s not worth our sympathy. I see everyone talking about him and his beautiful family and children almost as an excuse to let him go. What I don’t see is how that is possibly a reason to consider for anything for this case at all. Just for the sake of knowledge, Osama has five wives and nearly twenty five children. We didn’t cry when he was killed. Well, it’s simple, mainly because he did not leak a DVD of him running around playing happy games with his children or eating dinner with his wives, even though there is a huge chance that he did. Afzal Guru was executed for many charges, one being that he possessed enough knowledge of something terrible that he could have stopped. But we did not feel bad for him either. And so is that it? Are we THAT naive that we see a man who looks good and we can’t imagine him to be bad? Also, where do we draw the line, then? Do we let people who ‘seem honest’ get away with criminal charges? We’ve seen Sunjay Dutt look like the nicest man alive in Munna Bhai and I see why we find it so hard to picture him doing anything that isn’t making people happy. But he did something wrong and that cannot be wavered off in lieu of a practiced apology and/or money. That is the truth. It could have been any of us, or worse, someone we love. It is a case of denied justice. And it saddens me that the reason why most people are angry and agitated is because this movie star has FIVE YEAR jail sentence.
Lastly, I just want to say that please let’s have a heart and save the sympathies for those who’re worth it and the prayers for the families of those who left us twenty years ago. We do not need to justify this man’s actions. He has not earned that. If anything we need to look at him as an example of what the law will do to you despite your background, surname and/or financial situation. It may not be a lot, but it’s high time for a start. I may not know much, but I know for a fact that this is the right thing to do.
Stochasticity 