World | India
Fans relieved over actor's acquittal on terror charges
Fans and supporters of Sanjay Dutt on Tuesday heaved a sigh of relief that the actor had been acquitted of terrorism charges.
- By Pamela Raghunath, Correspondent
- Published: 00:00 November 29, 2006
Mumbai: Fans and supporters of Sanjay Dutt on Tuesday heaved a sigh of relief that the actor had been acquitted of terrorism charges.
About 500 people, including members of India's ruling Congress party of which Dutt's father was a longtime member, gathered to hear the verdict.
"The slur of a terrorist has been erased," said Geeta Yadav, a Congress city council member who distributed sweets after the verdict.
Dutt's sister Priya, a member of parliament, said there was a "sense of great relief".
"We are ready to face whatever there is," she told Times Now TV news channel. "He's been pretty strong through it but tense. We all have been very tense.
"We miss our father. We wish he was with us."
Karan Johar, film-maker, said, "The nation knows he is innocent."
Arshad Warsi, his film partner in the two successful Munnabhai films told reporters, "Thank God they did not say he is a terrorist. He is not a terrorist, not a criminal. Sanjay Dutt is a clean-cut good guy."
Warsi, who plays the role of "Circuit" in the two hit films with Dutt, said, "Everybody in his life makes stupid mistakes and every actor in the film industry at one point of time would have thought of possessing a weapon."
In the run-up to the verdict, Dutt had said he was nervous and apprehensive.
"I am a human being, and am quite nervous," he said.
"I'm going to bow my head and take whatever comes my way. And I will accept whatever the honourable court says to me," the actor told one TV channel.
In the morning, a tense-looking Dutt entered the court and came away somewhat relieved. Friends and well-wishers hugged him cheerfully but he did not look too elated knowing it was still not the end of the 13-year-old case for him. Already 90 accused in the blasts case have been convicted and 30 acquitted.
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