70-year-old widow wants equality with Sanjay Dutt on pardon

Zaibunissa Kazi sent out an appeal to the Governor of Maharashtra have mercy on her.

Zeenews Bureau

New Delhi: Even as the din to pardon Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt is growing by the day, another convict in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case, Zaibunissa Kazi sent out an appeal to the Governor of Maharashtra on Tuesday to have mercy on her. A tearful and heart-broken Zaibunnisa, 70, asked the Governor to look at her case, just like he was being asked to by host of politicians and celebrities to look at the case of Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt. “Have a look at my case too. I have been fighting for the past 20 years. I do not have the will to surrender again,” implored Kazi. She also said that she had a kidney operation sometime back due to which she could not walk properly. Kazi repeated again and again that she had not done anything wrong and that she was only a victim of circumstances. Breaking down at the end of her appeal she said that she will ‘die’ if she has to go back to jail. Apart from the Bollywood fraternity, the political class too has been seeking clemency for the only son of Sunil and Nargis Dutt. Justice (Retired) Markandey Katju has been spearheading the campaign on the grounds that Sanjya Dutt had already suffered enough. Political parties like the NCP, the Samajwadi Party and the INLD want him to be pardoned and consider his punishment too stringent. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has also joined the bandwagon. Amar Singh and Jaya Prada have gone ahead and met the Governot today. However, amidst the clamour to pardon Sanjay, the case of Zaibunissa Anwar Kazi has not been considered important enough for anyone to take up. At least that is what the lady herself and her daughter feel so. While Zaibunissa made an appeal today, he daughter told a TV channel few days back that if she was a celebrity or if her mother was a celebrity then they would also have got the same support that Sanjay was receiving. It is said that both Kazi and Dutt have been by and large convicted of the same crime of keeping illegal weapons and that too in a notified area which Mumbai was at that time. They did receive the same jail term of five years. However, the difference was that Kazi was charged under TADA and Dutt was charged under the Arms Act. Kazi has already spent time 8 months in jail and was out on bail till now.