MUMBAI, May 20: Sharif Dada Parkar and Zebunisa Kazi, whose convictions in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts case have been upheld by the Supreme Court, today surrendered before the special TADA court here.
Parkar, who is over 80, was brought to the court on a stretcher from a hospital in Byculla, while 75-year-old Zebunisa, suffering from cancer, came on a wheel-chair.
They were slated to surrender on May 17, but failed to give themselves up because of ill-health.
While Parkar had been admitted to hospital last Thursday for chest pain, Zebunisa had been advised to undergo certain medical tests.
Today, when Judge G A Sanap saw Parkar on the stretcher, he suggested that he may be taken outside awhile to breathe some fresh air.
The judge then asked the court staff and police to take both into custody and send them to jail to serve the emainders of their sentences.
Fellow convict, actor Sanjay Dutt, for whom May 16 deadline had been set by Supreme Court, has already rrendered.
Earlier, Parkar and Kazi had sought more time to urrender citing medical grounds, but the TADA court rejected their applications, saying that it could not tinker with the Supreme Court-set deadline.
On May 17, TADA court also issued non-bailable warrants, but they were not executed.
Parkar was convicted by the TADA court for his role in organising the landing of arms and RDX in Raigad district prior to the March 1993 serial blasts, and in arranging a conspiracy meeting.
Kazi was convicted for allowing a co-accused to keep some weapons, a part of the cache that arrived prior to blasts, at her house for a brief while.
While Parkar would be serving a life sentence, Kazi has been sentenced to five years in jail (same as Dutt).
Zebusina’s daughter Shagufta told reporters outside the court in south Mumbai that while the main perpetrators of the crime were absconding, her mother was being punished.
Her mother was sick, suffering from a life-threatening disease, and was not a threat to the society, Shagufta said, appealing the government to decide on Kazi’s pardon application at the earliest.
Court sources said Parkar would be first taken to Arthur Road Central Jail here, and after a medical check-up, the authorities would decide whether he was fit enough to be lodged in jail or should be taken to hospital. (PTI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel