The Hindu : Front Page : Reel life turns real for Sanjay Dutt

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Thursday, Aug 02, 2007
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Reel life turns real for Sanjay Dutt

– PHOTO: PTI

DAY ONE: An emotionally shaken Namrata Dutt, sister of Sanjay Dutt, along with his girlfriend Maanyata coming out of Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai on Wednesday evening after meeting Sanjay.

MUMBAI: Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt has had to exchange his trademark jeans and shirt for a white kurta-pyjama, the standard attire for a convict, in the Arthur Road Jail here where he is not being accorded any special treatment.

The only bright moment on Wednesday for Dutt, given a six-year jail term in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case by a court here on Tuesday, was a visit by his girlfriend Maanyata.

“He must have worn the clothes (of a prisoner) many times in his long film career. This time it’s for real,” said a senior official at the high-security jail in central Mumbai.

Maanyata, accompanied by Dutt’s sisters Priya and Namrata and brother-in-law Owen Roncon, met the actor in the jail on Wednesday evening during visiting hours.

Contrary to reports in a section of the media, the official said Dutt was very composed and going through the same routine as any of the jail’s other 2,400-odd prisoners.

Dutt had his dinner late on Tuesday evening after being taken into the jail, the third time he has been held here since his arrest in 1993. The only difference was that he is now a convict.

“His meals comprise daal, rice and chapatis while breakfast is poha and fruits. No special treatment is being given to him,” the official said. “Breakfast is served at 0730 hours, lunch at 1130 and dinner at 1800.”

Dutt can also have food available in the canteen for prisoners facing trial as a supplement as the intervals between meals are “very long”, the official said.

“Both him and Yusuf Nalwalla have been kept in the same barrack,” the official added.

Dutt and Nalwalla were moving around the barracks for short walks that are allowed under the prison regulations, the official said.

Besides his relatives and friends, Dutt also met his lawyer Satish Maneshinde on Wednesday. The special TADA court which sentenced Dutt to rigorous imprisonment for six years and fined him Rs. 25,000 for possessing an AK-56 rifle and a 9-mm pistol, is expected to hear on Thursday his application asking to be held in the Arthur Road Jail and not to be sent to any other prison. All the other convicts in the blasts case, including the 12 who were awarded capital punishment by Judge P. D. Kode, were shifted to other jails in Maharashtra following their sentencing as the Arthur Road Jail houses only persons facing trial. – PTI.

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