The Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Friday backed Press Council of India (PCI) chief Justice (retired) Markandey Katju's appeal for pardon to cine star Sanjay Dutt in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case.A day after Justice Katju appealed to Maharashtra Governor K. Sankarnarayanan to pardon the actor under Article 161 of the Constitution saying that he was not found guilty of playing a role in the 1993 blasts and had suffered a lot for possessing prohibited weapons without a licence, SP leader Naresh Agarwal also made a similar appeal to President Pranab Mukherjee."We appeal to the President and the Governor (of Maharashtra) to put Sanjay Dutt's case in special category and pardon him. This is what Samajwadi Party," Agarwal said.NCP spokesperson D.P. Tripathi said, "We have to pay attention to what the Supreme Court had to say about Sanjay Dutt. He was never stated as a culprit in terror activities. They held him guilty only in the case of possession of illegal weapons.""He has already faced a punishment for eight months. That is why I think that Justice Katju's suggestion is right. We do not spare anyone who breaks the law of our nation," Tripathi said.The Supreme Court had on Thursday upheld a special TADA court's judgement in the case, but commuted the actor's six-year jail sentence by a year.