Malegaon Blast Case: After LS Poll Win, BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur Likely to Appear Before NIA Court For First Time Today

Pragya Thakur had sought the exemption claiming that she needed to fulfil certain formalities in light of her election as a Lok Sabha Member of Parliament. The court on Tuesday rejected her application, and directed her to appear for the hearings at least once a week.

The BJP MP, along with six others, are accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast that killed eight and injured nearly 100 people – have been instructed by the court to appear for proceedings of the case at least once a week.

Pragya Thakur was in jail for nine years in this case and is presently out on bail. Meanwhile, the proceedings of the case are carried out on a daily basis. Till now, 116 witnesses have been examined by the court.

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The accused have been charged under various sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The charges include sections 16 (committing terrorist act) and 18 (conspiring to commit terrorist act) of the UAPA and sections 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 153 (a) (promoting enmity between two religious groups) of the IPC.

The accused have also been charged under relevant sections of the Explosive Substances Act.

Earlier in April, the NIA Court had rejected an application filed by the father of one of the victims of the blasts seeking to restrain Pragya Thakur from contesting the Lok Sabha Elections 2019.

The plea has questioned her candidature before the NIA court citing her health which was one of the reasons in her bail application.