Mumbai, August 26
The Maharashtra government has suspended a police constable after television channels showed actor Sanjay Dutt hugging him as he was coming out of the Yerwada jail last week. Maharashtra home minister R.R. Patil ordered a crackdown on all policemen shown being ‘friendly’ with Sanjay Dutt in a bid to toughen up the image of the police.
Constable Milind Dandee, who hugged Dutt, convicted under the Arms Act in 1993 Mumbai blasts case, has been suspended while the eight others whose friendly gestures towards ‘Munnabhai’ of silver screen were seen in a live coverage by television channels all over, will be facing a departmental probe, jail superintendent Rajendra Dhamne said
today.
As the actor came out of the jail gates following grant of an interim bail by Supreme Court on the morning of August 23, a group of constables on duty eagerly sought to shake hands with the Bollywood star, sentenced to six years rigorous imprisonment by a TADA court, without realising the gestures could be seen as incongruous with the Khaki uniform they wore.
“These men in uniform by their gestures towards a convicted criminal have violated the decorum and prison norms,” Dhamne said.
