Sanjay Dutt is criminal, should not be pardoned: Uma Bharti

Lucknow, April 1: When many celebrities along with politicians have been demanding pardon for Sanjay Dutt, BJP leader Uma Bharti called him a "criminal", a "traitor". The BJP leader on Monday, April 1 claimed that Dutt should not be pardoned as he had ditched the country during Bombay Blasts 1993.

Critcising Dutt and slamming his sympathisers, Uma Bharti even compared the Bollywood actress with Afzal Guru, the convict of Parliament attack case. Guru recently has been executed in Delhi's Tihar jail.

Uma's statement surfaced just a day after the news that expelled Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh's plea seeking pardon for Dutt reached Maharashtra Home Ministry.

K Sankaranarayanan, the Maharashtra Governor, on Sunday, March 31 forwarded the expelled Samajwadi Party leader's letter to Maharashtra State Home Department.

Earlier Amar Singh along with Jaya Prada met the governor seeking pardon for the actor who has already spent 18 months in jail over Bombay Blasts 1993 case.

The Supreme Court found the actor guilty of acquiring illegal weapons from those blamed for the bombings in Mumbai that killed 257 people and was given four weeks to surrender.

Earlier, several celebrities including Press Council of India Chairman Markandey Katju and actor-turned-politicians Jaya Bachchan and Shatrughan Sinha had sought pardon for Dutt.

However, the actor recently announced that he would not seek pardon, hence he would surrender himself before Bomaby court following the apex court's order.

Uma Bharti along with Smiti Irani has been elevated as vice-president of the BJP Parliamentary Board, the highest decision making body of the party. While Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has been inducted in the board, Varun Gandhi, Amit Shah and Rajiv Pratap Rudy have been appointed as general secretaries of the party.

OneIndia News