New Delhi, Apr. 16 (ANI): Press Council of India (PCI) chairperson Justice Markandey Katju, who has written to President Pranab Mukherjee seeking pardon for actor Sanjay Dutt and another blasts convict, met Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh here on Tuesday.
Justice Katju, however, refused to comment on what was discussed in today's meeting with the Prime Minister.
" All I can tell you is what is contained in my letters that I have appealed for pardon to five persons i.e. Sanjay Dutt, Zaibunissa Kazi, Ishaq (Hajwane), Shariff Abdul Gafoor and Bhullar," Justice Katju told mediapersons here.
"And also I prayed that until my pardon petition is disposed off respite should be granted because Article 72 not only empowers the President to grant pardon, it also empowers the President to grant respite or suspension of sentence. So, till the pardon petition is decided, I have prayed that the President should grant respite," he added.
Justice Katju had earlier appealed to both President Pranab Mukherjee and Maharashtra Governor K. Sankaranarayanan seeking pardon for Sanjay Dutt, saying the actor should be pardoned on humanitarian grounds as he has had a troubled past.
"He had faced a lot of troubles. He got married during his difficult times and has two small kids. So taking into account all these things, I proposed that he has suffered a lot. He should be forgiven because there should be some mercy along with justice. So, he should be forgiven," he had earlier said.
Dutt, who has been sentenced to five years in jail for illegal possession of weapons in a case linked to the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts, moved the Supreme Court yesterday reportedly seeking six more months to surrender, which would give him adequate time to complete the films in which he is acting.
Dutt last month said he will surrender before the authorities as per the Supreme Court's direction, and added that he would not be seeking a pardon.
The apex court, which had 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.
71-year-old Zaibunissa Anwar Kazi was a co-accused in the 1993 bomb blasts case and was sentenced to five years' imprisonment by the Supreme Court. Ishaq Hajwane and Shariff Abdul Gafoor Parker are also accused in the Mumbai blasts.
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.
Devinderpal Singh Bhullar was sentenced to death in 2001 for plotting terror attacks on Punjab SSP Sumedh Singh Saini and M.S. Bitta in 1993, leading to several deaths in New Delhi.
The apex court had on 26 March, 2002, dismissed Bhullar's appeal against the death sentence awarded by trial court and endorsed by the Delhi High Court.
He had filed a review petition, which was also dismissed on 17 December, 2002. Bhullar had then moved a curative petition, which too had been rejected, by the apex court on March 12, 2003.
Bhullar had filed a mercy petition before the President on 14 January, 2003. The President, however, rejected his mercy petition on May 25 last year, clearing the decks for his execution. (ANI)
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