Sanjay Dutt didn't learn Marathi in jail, but learned intimidation: ex-DIG

Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt recently sparked controversy when he refused to speak Marathi at a Dahi Handi event in Mumbai, claiming he spent five years in jail and never learned the language. Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik had urged him to speak Marathi, but Dutt declined.

Dutt was sentenced to six years imprisonment by Mumbai's Special TADA court in 1993 for illegally possessing an AK-47 rifle linked to an underworld consignment. The Supreme Court later reduced his sentence to five years, and accounting for remissions and legal concessions, he served just over four years in prison.

Swati Sathe, former Deputy Inspector General of Maharashtra prisons, recalled that while Dutt failed to learn Marathi despite many Marathi-speaking inmates and staff in jail, he did master "the language of intimidation." Sathe described how Dutt initially refused to wear prison uniforms and behaved disruptively when first brought to jail after his conviction.