MUMBAI, 29 August 2007 — A prison guard suspended for hugging a jailed Indian film star has been reinstated after a regional politician took a “humane view” of his behavior, an official said yesterday.
An inquiry against eight other constables, who saw off actor Sanjay Dutt with a handshake after he was let out on bail last week, has also been dropped.
Television cameras caught constable Rajendra Kalekar giving the popular actor an effusive send-off on Thursday, prompting authorities to raise charges of inappropriate behavior against him.
But the chief minister of the western state of Maharashtra, Vilasrao Deshmukh, said the action to suspend one of the policemen was “very harsh,” and that it was Dutt who had taken the initiative to hug and shake hands with the guards.
The announcement deepened tensions between the two alliance partners, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and put Deshmukh of the Congress in direct conflict with Deputy Chief Minister R. R. Patil of the NCP who had ordered the suspension.
Deshmukh did not agree with his deputy chief minister and issued a late night order revoking the suspension and departmental action against the policemen. He aslo asked the Inspector General of Police SC Mathur to close the case and ensure that no stringent action is taken against the policemen for what he called “minor lapses.”
