2008 Malegaon Blast Case: NIA Court Rejects Pragya Thakur’s Plea For Exemption From Daily Appearance

In her plea for exemption, Thakur had said that she was an MP and she needed to attend Parliament on a daily basis.

Mumbai: Special NIA court in Mumbai on Thursday rejected BJP MP Pragya Thakur’s application for a permanent exemption from attending the court once a week. In her plea for exemption, Thakur had said that she was an MP and she needed to attend Parliament on a daily basis.

Thakur, who is a prime accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, had made a court appearance for the first time after her Lok Sabha victory early this month. Granted bail on medical grounds, she was assisted by her aides but refused to sit down, complaining about the chair that was offered to her and the state of cleanliness of the courtroom.

She had initially been asked by the judge to sit in the enclosure for the accused at the back of the room, and before she sat on the bench, her aides spread a red velvet cloth on it for her to sit on.

Thakur sat there with co-accused Sudhakar Dwivedi and Sameer Kulkarni. When the judge called her to the witness box in the front and asked if she wanted a chair, Thakur said she preferred to stand leaning against the window.

Earlier this week, Thakur had the Opposition protesting when she suffixed the name of her guru, Swami Purna Chetnanand Avdheshanand Giri, to hers before while taking oath as a member of 17th Lok Sabha.

Opposition MPs felt she was doing so to score some political or religious point. The pro tem speaker reminded her that she could take oath only in the name of God or the Constitution.

The 49-year-old insisted she would take the oath but would use her full name. Though the BJP leader insisted Purna Chetananannd Avdheshanand Giri was her official name, her nomination forms and affidavits mentioned Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur only.