Mumbai:
In an awkward moment for Maharashtra Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik, actor Sanjay Dutt publicly mocked the former’s Marathi diktat while standing beside him on a stage during Dahi Handi celebrations in Thane.
Dutt said that despite being in jail for six years in Pune’s Yerwada jail, he couldn’t learn Marathi.
Sarnaik had given a deadline for taxi drivers to learn Marathi by August 15. Their permits would be suspended if they don’t, he added.
Considering the sentiments of the Hindi-speaking population in Maharashtra, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis deferred the diktat by a year, causing embarrassment to Sarnaik and his leader Eknath Shinde, who is also Deputy Chief Minister.
Dutt’s public taunting added insult to injury.
Sanjay Dutt was sentenced to six years of imprisonment by Mumbai’s special TADA court for illegally possessing an AK-47 rifle, which was part of the consignment sent by Dawood Ibrahim’s gang in Mumbai.
He was convicted only under the Arms Act. Dutt didn’t spend six years behind bars, as he claims.
The Supreme Court reduced his sentence to five years, and considering his paroles, furloughs and legal concessions, he only spent over four years in prison.
Although the jail had several Marathi-speaking inmates and the prison staff was also Marathi, they spoke to him in Hindi.
Also read: Sanjay Dutt’s Yerwada Jail Quip Ignites Marathi Row, Entangles Sena Minister
When Sanjay Dutt Refused To Wear Jail Uniform
Former Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Maharashtra’s prison department, Swati Sathe, recollected that while Dutt couldn’t learn Marathi in jail, he learnt another language – the language of intimidation.
Sathe said that after being convicted under the Arms Act, Dutt was shocked and couldn’t accept jail life. After the court’s order, when he was brought into the jail for the first time, he refused to wear the jail uniform. The jail wardens pleaded with him to wear the white-coloured shirt meant for prisoners, but he threw tantrums and behaved rudely with them.
The jail staff alerted about his behaviour to Swati Sathe, who was the jail superintendent. She was known for enforcing strict discipline and her no-nonsense behaviour. She had a reputation for beating up dangerous gangsters black and blue if they disobeyed jail rules. Her image terrified even the hardened criminals in custody.
An enraged Sathe, after hearing about Dutt’s misbehaviour, rushed to his barrack. Pointing her baton towards him, she warned, “Sanju, tu batton ki zubaan samjhega ya laaton ki?” (Will you understand the language of words or kicks?”
Dutt felt intimidated by Sathe’s aggressive demeanour and considered it prudent to obey her order. He immediately rushed to the changing room and wore the jail uniform. The language of intimidation worked, and from that day onwards Dutt never threw tantrums in jail.
In fact, after a few days, Dutt developed a cordial relationship with Sathe and other jail officials. He helped the jail authorities in organising various events and ran a jail radio inspired by his movie, “Lage Raho Munna Bhai.”
