Non-bailable warrant against Sanjay Dutt

A local court on Saturday issued a non-bailable warrant against Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt for failing to turn up in hearings of a case lodged against him for allegedly making provocative statements during a poll campaign in 2009.
Judicial Magistrate Krishna Kumar issued the warrant against Dutt after the movie star repeatedly missed summons by the court even after the issue of a bailable warrant, and ordered Mau district magistrate to arrest and present him in court on July 8.

During an election rally for the 2009 Lok Sabha Elections, Dutt, the then national general secretary of Samajwadi Party (SP), had allegedly made inflammatory statements while he canvassed votes for party candidate Arshad Jamal.

Saturday’s ruling came on a complaint filed the local station house officer Vijay Shankar Yadav, that accused Dutt of breaching the model code of conduct of the Election Commission in April 2009.

In January 2009, Dutt had announced that he would contest the 2009 Lok Sabha elections on the Samajwadi Party ticket. However, he withdrew his candidacy in March 2009 after the Supreme Court refused to suspend his conviction in a criminal case.

A close friend of former Samajwadi leader Amar Singh, Dutt instead opted to campaign for the party’s candidates, that went on to be single largest party in state, winning 23 of the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh.