By:
Raymond
Ronamai
Wednesday,
August
01,
2007
Popular
actor
Sanjay
Dutt
was
sentenced
to
six
years
vigorous
imprisonment
by
a
special
court
yesterday,
in
connection
to
the
1993
Mumbai
serial
blasts
case,
which
killed
more
than
250
civilians.
The
long-awaited
verdict
has
shocked
Bollywood
like
never
before.
People
in
the
film
industry
are
of
the
opinion
that
the
punishment
meted
to
the
actor
is
too
harsh,
arguing
that
he
is
a
good
human
being
and
had
served
in
jail
for
16
months
earlier.
"I
think
whatever
punishment
has
been
meted
out
to
him,
it
far
exceeds
the
error
committed
by
him.
People
have
forgotten
the
circumstances
under
which
the
error
was
committed.
People
seemed
to
have
forgotten
the
good
work
done
by
the
actor,
especially
in
the
aftermath
of
the
1993
blasts
when
he
picked
up
the
wounded
from
the
streets
and
took
them
to
hospital.
You
know
when
there
is
some
kind
of
catastrophe,
sometimes
in
such
a
situation,
someone
does
wrong.
But
my
god,
what
a
punishment," said
yesteryears
actress
Saira
Banu.
"He
must
have
known
that
he
will
have
to
suffer
a
little
more
and
he
has
decided
to
accept
it
with
grace,"
said
actress
Kiron
Kher.
She
also
added
that
the
punishment
is
too
harsh,
as
he
has
suffered
for
14
long
years.
Various
film
personalities
like
actors
Shatrughan
Sinha
and
Suniel
Shetty,
filmmaker
Mahesh
Bhatt,
director
Madhur
Bhandarkar
and
others
have
expressed
their
sympathy
for
Sanjay
Dutt
in
the
open.
They
are
of
the
opinion
that
the
law
has
been
harsh
on
him
because
of
his
celebrity
status.
However,
the
court
feels
that
possessing
9
mm
pistol
and
lethal
weapon
like
AK-56
rifle
is
a
serious
offense.
All
hope
is
not
lost
for
the
actor
and
his
fans
because
plans
are
on
to
approach
the
Supreme
Court.