Other ’93 blasts convicts had no such luck: Activists
Activists and lawyers have alleged that there was bias involved in not granting parole to other convicts in the 1993 blasts case.
Activists and lawyers have alleged that there was bias involved in not granting parole to other convicts in the 1993 blasts case. While actor Sanjay Dutt was granted parole for the second time in a little over a month,‘more deserving and ageing convicts’ were being denied,lawyers claimed.
Former vice-chairperson of the State Minorities Commission Abraham Mathai also met Home Minister R R Patil along with 1993 blast convict Zaibunnissa Qazi’s daughter Shagufta Qazi to discuss the ailing septuagenarian’s case. “Many people are seeing this as religious bias. She is an old woman and has applied for parole thrice but it has repeatedly been rejected by the Divisional Commissioner. We met Home Minister R R Patil and he has assured us that he will look into the matter,” Mathai said.
While jail authorities granted Dutt parole after he cited wife Manyata’s ill health,other 1993 convicts who applied for parole have been denied the same.
Speaking to The Sunday Express,advocate Farhana Shah said,“ I represented Zaibunissa Qazi,Mujib Parkar and Yusuf Nalwala. All the three had applied for parole. However,their requests were not approved.”
She said Qazi had applied for parole in June citing poor health but even then the jail authorities didn’t approve her application. “Parkar had even written ato Mantralaya citing ill health of his wife,but it was rejected. Similarly,Nalwala’s application was also rejected by the jail authorities,” Shah said.
When asked whether there was bias involved,she said,“Bias is definitely there. At the time of pendency of their appeal,the Supreme Court had granted them bail looking at their conduct. They didn’t violate any condition when they were out on bail. Whenever they were called by the court they appeared.”
Although the jail authorities reject their pleas on the ground that they are a threat to the witnesses,they have never misused the bail when they were out,she said. “It’s complete non-application of mind on the part of the authorities,” added Shah.
Parole is granted in the event of family emergencies. Request for parole is cleared by the Divisonal Commissioner of respective revenue circles.
In October 2012,the Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court had severely castigated the state government on arbitrarily turning down parole requests of prisoners without giving due consideration. In its verdict,the Bench had noted that expressing an apprehension that the prisoner is likely to commit offence without checking his record was not a proper thing to do.
“Expressing an apprehension that the prisoner is likely to commit offence is an expression based on fiction and,therefore,it is strange,shocking and exhibits total lack of application of mind by the officer,” the Court had stated.
Aamir Khan
aamir.khan@expressindia.com
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