Malegaon Blast: Pragya Thakur finally appears before court
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Mumbai: BJP’s controversial leader, MP and accused in the Malegaon bomb blast of 2008, Pragya Singh Thakur, appeared before the court on Thursday, finally after repeated warnings.
Thakur had refused to appear before courts in the past, claiming medical illness, but the special court issued a fresh warning saying that if she failed to appear again on April 25, she would have to face action, The Free Press Journal.
Thakur told the court on Thursday that she was still not well, claiming that she could not even hold a pen. She requested the court to allow her to put a thumb impression below her statement.
On the day, Pragya had to answer several questions her co-accused had already answered since she had skipped several court sessions. The court asked her to appear before it every day to record her statement.
It was on Saturday that the court gave her a last extension for appearance and warned her it would take further steps if she failed to appear. Since last month, Thakur had claimed that she could not appear before the court, and it was on March 11 the court issued a bailable warrant against her following her failure to appear before the court.
The court allowed her exemption plea on March 5 on health grounds but only on condition that she would submit proper medical reports and would be present before the court on March 11. After she was issued a bailable warrant on March 11, it was cancelled, and the court asked NIA Bhopal to confirm that she was truly unwell, to which the NIA informed the court that she was unwell.
Pragya Singh Thakur is accused along with six others in the Malegaon blast case and is charged with sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), Explosive Substances Act, Indian Arms Act, and Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
The court is recording statements of the accused under Section 313 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Six people were killed while more than 100 were injured in the blast where an explosive device was taped on a motorcycle that went off next to a mosque in Malegaon on September 29, 2008.
