Fans start petitions for release of Bollywood's 'bad boys'

THEY may be taking turns going in and out of jail, but Bollywood 'bad boys' Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt have no shortage of supporters.

There have been several online petitions set up by their fans to protest their prison sentences. Sanjay, 48, has petitions called Free Bollywood Star - Sanjay Dutt and Release Sanjay Dutt ! set up for him.

Salman, 41, has a petition of support entitled Support Salman Khan at www.gopetition.com.

PUNISHED ENOUGH

Sanjay was sentenced to prison for six years for illegally possessing three AK-56 rifles, a pistol and ammunition during the 1993 Mumbai bombings. He is currently out on interim bail on a technicality and was on bail for 12 years, before being jailed in July this year. He will have to return to prison on 27 Sep, when he gets a copy of his sentence.

The petition for Salman was set up on 24 Aug. To date, it has about 1,124 signatures.

The site's creator, Savithri Machiraju, 55, said in an e-mail interview with The New Paper: 'This petition was set up to bring awareness to all the facts involved in this case.'

A Rajasthani court rejected Salman's appeal against his conviction last year for his 1998 poaching case where he killed a chinkara, an endangered species of deer in the state of Rajasthan.

Adapted from: FREE SALMAN, SANJAY NOW, The Electric New Paper, Singapore