Malegaon blast accused, who is imprisoned in Byculla Women's prison, had protested against the foreign prisoner's lewd gestures
Malegaon blast accused, who is imprisoned in Byculla Women's prison, had protested against the foreign prisoner's lewd gestures
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Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, an undertrial in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, was allegedly attacked by a Nigerian inmate in Byculla jail on Tuesday. According to Sadhvi's lawyer Navin Chomal, the Nigerian inmate had been mentally harassing her for a while.
On Tuesday, the Nigerian inmate stripped and was making lewd gestures at her. When the Sadhvi protested, the inmate launched an attack on her.
"The Nigerian woman who is imprisoned in the barrack adjacent to Sadhvi's, has been mentally harassing my client," alleged Chomal.
He added that the inmate provoked the Sadhvi on several occasions. "They used to strip in front of Sadhvi to provoke her. On Tuesday, when the Nigerian woman repeated her indecent gesture, Sadhvi protested. They attacked her in return. Luckily, my client managed to escape to her barrack. Rita Jaiswal, one of her close inmates, was injured in the attack."u00a0 Sources revealed that Sadhvi was shifted to another cell after the attack.
Chomal has now made an application before the MCOCA court for an investigation of the incident. "Instead of transferring the Nigerian woman to another cell, they have isolated Sadhvi," he complained.
Sadhvi was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on October 10, 2008 for her role in orchestrating the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast. On the other hand, the Anti-Narcotics Cell arrested the Nigerian national for drug trafficking.
The other side
Inspector General of prisons Surendra Kumar denied the incident had taken place saying, "All the allegations are baseless. I met Sadhvi today."
History
Sadhvi was arrested in connection with the Malegaon blast, which killed seven in the communally-sensitive textile town in Nasik district on September 29, 2008. A probe had revealed that some right-wing Hindu groups orchestrated the blast.
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