Posted:
Question is, can such a service be introduced in Indian justice system? Could that have been an option for Sanjay Dutt? Let us find out what our stars have to say about that.
Celebrity Take:
Vivan Bhatena: It's a very serious issue. Sanjay Dutt, from what I have heard, is swell of a person. However, it's also true that he was guilty of illegal possession of arms. Call it naivety or foolishness or whatever, bottom line is, it's wrong.
The idea of community service is very good, but I would support it for minor offences, not where terrorism or any other serious offence is concerned. Lives have been lost, and there has to be a payback. It's sad, but true.
Raj Singh Arora: Minnie, first I must say you have an impeccable timing! ironically, yesterday
only I shot a scene where I was caught with a gun and a bag of cocaine and right now I am in Jail....so it's actually a very Sanjay Duttish scene that I am doing. So I understand what he is going through. However, we need to understand that he did do something very wrong, and he has to do time for it. Law has to take it's course and I am very proud that justice has been served.
Community Service is a brilliant idea! However, does it serve the purpose of justice in a case of something as serious as illegal possession of arms? I don't think so. Unlike US, people here cannot possess a gun, and I feel secure when I know that no one will suddenly spring a gun on me and start shooting, and I love this country for that. Hence if the offence is something as serious as that, then you have to go to jail.
Community service is a fantastic option. Jail is for people who need to be reformed, not for people who already have suffered and have become good citizens. If he has to pay, the payback could be in form of something else which would be more useful for the society as a whole. What good is Sanjay Dutt behind the bars anyway? There should be a clause in the law where a person with no wrongful intent should be treated leniently, and if we can find other more effective alternative ways for payback, nothing better than that!
Community Service is definitely a much much better option. That kind of a payback method would have actually contributed to the society in a much more wholesome way of than locking him away would ever do.
But yes, community service could have used in this case. It is a brilliant concept, and should be introduced as an alternative method of punishment.