After Dutt, SC gives Zaibunissa a month to surrender in 1993 blast case

A day after actor Sanjay Dutt was granted a reprieve, the Supreme Court today granted four more accused in the 1993 serial blasts case an additional four weeks to surrender in order to undergo the remainder of their prison term. Zaibunissa Kazi, who was accused with actor Sanjay Dutt were charged under TADA Act for aiding and abetting a terrorist act, and the Arms Act. However, Dutt was held guilty only under the Arms Act while Kazi was convicted under TADA too. [caption id=“attachment_709452” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Screen grab/ibnlive[/caption] Kazi, a cancer patient, had asked for an extension based on the grounds that her clemency plea is still pending before President Pranab Mukherjee. She had spent eight months of her five year term in jail, and is presently out on bail. Some of the weapons from the cache given to Sanjay Dutt by gangster Abu Salem were kept at Kazi’s suburban Bandra house for a few days. Reacting to the court order, Zaibunissa’s daughter said, “Allah has listened to our prayers. All the hard work has paid off. The extension has been given on health grounds. God is great.” Kazi’s daughter Shagufta, who is clamouring for her pardon claims her mother was innocent and had no connection with any person convicted in the blasts case. “My mother knew Abu Salem as a real estate agent. There was no recovery from our house of any weapon. We have suffered enough,” the daughter had said earlier. Altaf Ali Sayeed and Essa Memon, brother of absconding prime accused Tiger Memon, were the other two convicts who were granted an additional month to surrender by the court. Another convict, Yusuf Khan, who had applied for additional time to surrender to the court had his plea rejected. According to CNN-IBN, Khan had pleaded for time to surrender on the grounds of ill-health, but the apex court bench noted that he could continue receiving treatment while in prison. Yusuf Nulwala, accused of helping Dutt dispose of the weapons he had acquired illegally, was among the other 3 convicts granted an additional four weeks before they have to surrender before a court and undergo the remaining prison sentence. Eleven other convicts in the 1993 serial blasts had surrendered before  TADA court in Mumbai yesterday and another 33 persons whose conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court were scheduled to surrender today.