Mumbai blasts case: Digvijay Singh comes out in support of Sanjay Dutt

New Delhi, Mar 24 (ANI): Congress leader Digvijay Singh has came out in support of the demand to pardon Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, who has been sentenced to five year's imprisonment under the Arms Act in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case.

"Sanjay Dutt is not a habitual criminal. He is the son of a very eminent person. He was then at an impressionable age and there was this impression that his father was being targeted for supporting the Muslim cause. So he may have done it, " Singh told media here.

"We respect the Supreme Court order. But he is not a criminal or terrorist. Maharashtra Governor K. Sankarnarayanan should review the petition with sympathy," he added.

Press Council chief Justice Markandey Katju, who had earlier requested Maharashtra Governor to pardon Dutt in an arms case related to the 1993 Mumbai blasts, on Friday said he was lending his support to the Bollywood actor only on humanitarian grounds.

"This is a humanitarian reason. I have supported many people on humanitarian reasons. For example Pakistani Doctor Khalil Chishti. You may remember (that) I supported him. He was not my relative. I did not even know him. He was not in my relation, my friend. But I felt that on humanitarian grounds I should support him. Similarly, in many cases I support people on humanitarian grounds," Justice Katju said.

The Supreme Court, which upheld the death sentence of Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, a key conspirator with Dawood Ibrahim in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, ordered that Dutt return to jail to serve three-and-a-half years sentence for possessing illegal arms.

Dutt, who is out on bail, will also have to surrender within four weeks to serve a jail term of 42 months as the apex court reduced to five years the six year jail term awarded to him by a designated TADA court in 2007 and he had already spent 18 months behind the bar.

A total of 257 persons were killed and 713 others injured when a series 13 coordinated explosions shattered the metropolis on March 12, 1993.

The blasts occurred at 12 places, including Bombay Stock Exchange building, Air-India Building at Nariman Point, at Worli opposite Century Bazaar, Hotels Sea Rock and Juhu Centaur. (ANI)