Aug 01, 2007
Mumbai, For once Sanjay Dutt was not acting. Pleading with the judge to allow him to take an overseas call from his daughter Trishala in the US, the Bollywood star wiped a tear with his shirtsleeve and confessed to a packed court that he had not come prepared to go to jail again.
"I have made a mistake, Sir," pleaded Sanjay with folded hands, as he asked for permission to be allowed to speak to Trishala after his sentence was announced in the Mumbai bombing trial Tuesday.
The actor, who turned 48 on Sunday, made a last-ditch attempt to plead with Judge P.D. Kode to give him a couple of days to surrender before he starts serving his six-year long prison term for possessing "dangerous weapons".
"I have several family responsibilities to take care of and one of my sisters is pregnant. I have some family obligations to take care of," Dutt pleaded with Kode adding, "You too are a family man and you know me better than anyone else seeing me for the last fourteen years."
"I am helpless. Please understand me. I have no power now after pronouncing the sentence. I have been very considerate with you and allowed you to be on bail since you were convicted on Nov 28 last year." Kode said.
The judge admitted that the actor had over the past years since he had been on trial had made a "mark " for himself in his chosen profession as a film actor. " You have done well and made a name for yourself in your chosen profession and this is just a small setback for you."
The actor, the most high profile among the 100 convicts who were sentenced, then pleaded that he should be allowed to take one phone call from his teenaged daughter.
"Will it be a collect call or will it be a billed call," Kode asked attorney Satish Manesinde in a lighter vein, granting permission before the actor was taken into custody."
Kode however, warned that the actor was not permitted to speak to the media or give any interview while he was waiting for his daughter's call.
" I have given permission for one overseas call, but ensure that you don't give any interview to the media or interact with them on phone," Kode warned before Sanjay was escorted out of the court room.
Before that Sanjay also pleaded that he and his fellow convict Yusuf Nulwala be lodged in the same jail .
"Please kindly allow me and Yusuf to be lodged in the same jail and please kindly see that we are not lodged with hardened criminals, Sir," the actor again pleaded.
Granting the plea, Kode instructed the court that the two be lodged at the Arthur Road Jail, but in separate cells, and be provided with all the permissible amenities in the prison.
Hearing that they would be lodged at the Arthur Road Jail, the actor once again sought permission to speak to the judge requesting him to ensure that the duo were not lodged in the infamous Andda cell of the high-security prison (so called because of its egg shape) where hardened criminals are lodged.
He said that he had not come prepared for a jail term as he had expected to be released
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Jodha Akbar
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