Cong distances itself from Digvijaya remark on Dutt

The Congress on Sunday distanced itself from party general secretary Digvijaya Singh's statement in which he supported the demand for pardoning the five-year jail sentence of actor Sanjay Dutt.

The Congress on Sunday distanced itself from party general secretary Digvijaya Singh's statement in which he supported the demand for pardoning the five-year jail sentence of actor Sanjay Dutt.

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The Congress said it will not comment on the matter and it is up to Dutt to decide whether he wants to file a petition before the competent authorities seeking pardon of his sentence.

Earlier, Singh had said that Dutt was not terrorist and he committed a mistake when he was young.

"Sanjay Dutt is not a criminal, he is not a terrorist. At a young age, in the atmosphere of that time, he perhaps thought that the way Sunil Dutt had been raising his voice against communalism and favoured the minorities, then perhaps he could be attacked," Singh told reporters.

"So as an obvious reaction of a kid to do something, if he has committed a mistake then I feel that he has already undergone the punishment for it," he said.

The BJP has opposed the demand for relief to Dutt, saying that the law should be the same for everyone.