New Delhi:
A day after actor Sanjay Dutt was given four more weeks to return to jail, the Supreme Court has offered the same reprieve to 70-year-old Zaibunissa Kazi, who was ordered last month to serve five years for her role in the 1993 serial bombings in Mumbai, one of the worst terror attacks for India.
Zaibunissa has been given a month on humanitarian and health grounds, the judges said.
She had also said that the court should not send her to jail till the President of the country decides on her clemency petition, but that appeal was rejected earlier this week.
In addition to Zaibunnisa, six other people were sanctioned four more weeks of freedom before being imprisoned. They have all been convicted of links to the serial bombings in which more than 250 people were killed and nearly 700 injured.
Yesterday, the court allowed Mr Dutt, who is 53, a month to finish filming projects before he starts a three-and-a-half-year sentence. His lawyers had asked the court to give him six months to complete projects which are worth nearly Rs 270 crore for movie producers.
The actor has been convicted of illegally possessing arms that were supplied to him by men who executed the terror strike in Mumbai. He has denied all knowledge of the attack, and said that he acquired the AK-56 and a pistol to protect his family which was receiving death threats at the time.