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"Hamare bacche bhi Sanjay Dutt jaise hi hai. Koi terrorist nahin hai, toh unko kyun TADA ke liye andhar baandh kiya hai? yeh partiality kyun? (Our children are like Sanjay Dutt. No one is a terrorist, then why have they been arrested under the TADA Act? Why this partiality?)" protested relatives of the 69 convicts,  who have been found guilty under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), in the 1993 serial blasts case.

They have moved the special court urging it to amend the charge and punish them in a lesser offence as in the case of actor Sanjay Dutt.

The police detained the 35-odd people, mostly women, for illegally protesting outside the TADA court at 10.45 am. The police detained the protestors before Special Judge Pramod Kode and Dutt arrived at the court. Senior Police Inspector of the Agripada police RC Khandagale said: "Since we anticipated the protest, heavy police bandobast was deployed outside the court and the roads leading to it." He added that all detained protestors were later released.

Meanwhile, inside the court premises, the convicts kept asking mediapersons about the situation outside.

The convicts filed an application pleading that they too be exonerated from TADA like Dutt, who was held guilty held under the Arms Act for possessing AK-56 rifle and pistol. Their application will come up for hearing on Wednesday, when the Central Bureau of Investigation is expected to file a reply.