The mercy shown by the Supreme Court to Munnabhai aka Sanjay Dutt by giving him additional four weeks to surrender, came in handy for seven other convicts in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case, who claimed similar relief on Thursday.
The convicts rushed their petitions to the Supreme Court on Thursday, which incidentally was the last day to surrender. They included 76-year-old Zaibunisa Ahmed Kazi, Issaq Mohd Hajwane and 88-year-old Sharif Abdul Parker.
Interestingly, their petitions were dismissed by the Supreme Court a day earlier when they had sought relief on the grounds that their mercy pleas were pending before the President. The bench of Justices P Sathasivam and BS Chauhan heard the petitions and passed an order extending their surrender time by four weeks.
Initially, they asked the three persons to approach the bench headed by Chief Justice of India, which had rejected their request a day ago for extension of time to surrender. However, on Thursday, their petition for mercy and compassion from the Court was readily granted.
In the process, the Court also granted similar relief to Kersi Bapuji Adjania whose review petition was dismissed on Wednesday. The other three who got a four-week reprieve from surrendering included life convict Altaf Ali Syed, Eesa Anjum Parker and Yusuf Mohsin Nulwallah. These people had cited medical grounds and preoccupations at home to seek an extension.
Only one person was unfortunate enough to be denied this relief. Yusuf Khan, a life convict, whose review petition was rejected on Wednesday, could not make out a case for mercy as his lawyer was not aware of the review having been dismissed. Instead, he requested for a four-week extension till his review was decided. Surprisingly, even the Court did not notice this fact and refused him extension.