Pragya Thakur's request for permanent exemption rejected

Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur

BJP MP Pragya Thakur's plea for a permanent exemption from attending the court once in a week has been rejected by a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Thursday. Pragya Thakur is an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case.

The court had on June 3 directed Thakur and all other accused in the case to appear before it once a week.

Thakur sought exemption on the ground that she is a Member of Parliament and has to attend the parliament on a day-to-day basis.

Also read: Pragya Thakur adds name of her 'guru' during oath, triggers Opposition uproar

The court rejected her plea on the ground that it was not reasonable for granting a permanent exemption from attending the court once in a week during a day-to-day hearing of the blast case.

The court, however, gave her an exemption for Thursday from attending the court.

Besides Thakur, the other accused in the case are Lt Col Prasad Purohit, retired Major Ramesh Upadhyay, Sudhakar Dwivedi, Ajay Rahirkar, Sameer Kulkarni and Sudhakar Chaturvedi.

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

They have been charged under 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.

On September 29, 2008, six people were killed and a dozen others were injured when a bomb placed on a motorcycle exploded in Maharashtra's Malegaon city.

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