Warrant issued for Sanjay Dutt's arrest

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A local court in this Uttar Pradesh district on Saturday issued a non-bailable warrant against filmstar Sanjay Dutt for making provocative utterances during the election campaign for the 2009 general elections, officials said Issuing the warrant, judicial magistrate Krishna Kumar has directed the Mau district magistrate to arrest Dutt and present him in the court on July 8, 2011.

The order came on a complaint filed by the local station house officer Vijay Shankar Yadav, charging Dutt of violating the election code of conduct by making objectionable speeches. The filmstar, who had come to Mau to campaign for Samajwadi Party candidate Arshad Jamal, had allegedly said at an election rally that "when I was in a Mumbai jail, the policemen used to thrash me simply because my mother happened to be a a Muslim".

According to the Fir lodged against Dutt, the speech was clearly intended to gain sympathy of local Muslim voters. Dutt was arrested April 1993 under the stringent Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act in the aftermath of the Mumbai blasts and spent 16 months in jail until he was granted bail by the Supreme Court in October 1995. He was later acquitted of terror charges but convicted under the Arms Act. He has appealed and is out on bail. Some time ago, another court in the state's Pratapgarh district has issued a warrant for Dutt's arrest after his remarks that he would be willing to give his "jaadu ki jhappi" to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati, a reference to his character in the film "Lage Raho Munnabhai".

The actor had then moved the Allahabad high court, which stayed the order.