Pragya Thakur seeks dismissal of plea seeking to bar her from contesting poll

The applicant sought that Thakur, who is out on bail, be asked to attend court proceedings in Mumbai and barred from contesting the election as the trial is in progress.

Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur. Photo: ANI

Mumbai: BJP leader Pragya Singh Thakur, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, on Tuesday dubbed the application seeking to bar her from contesting the Lok Sabha election as "frivolous" and moved with a "political agenda", and sought its dismissal by the special NIA court here. The father of one of the blast victims moved the court Thursday, urging it to bar Thakur, the prime accused in the case, from contesting the election from Bhopal. Thakur responded to the plea on Tuesday through her lawyer before special judge for National Investigation Agency cases V S Padalkar. She said, "The applicant has deliberately chosen this court to ventilate misconceived and frivolous application for want of publicity and for extraneous reasons with political agenda," she said. The applicant has not only wasted the precious time of this court, but also attempted to consequentially drag, demean and/or lower the dignity and reputation of the court, Thakur said in her response. She prayed the court to dismiss the application with an exemplary cost. She also urged that the applicant be dealt with sternly for filing such a "frivolous" plea. The application was filed by Nisar Sayyad, who lost his son in the Malegaon blast, after the BJP fielded Thakur from Bhopal Lok Sabha seat against Congress veteran Digvijay Singh. The applicant sought that Thakur, who is out on bail, be asked to attend court proceedings in Mumbai and barred from contesting the election as the trial is in progress. It further mentioned that Thakur got bail on health grounds. If she is "healthy enough to fight elections in the crippling summers heat", then she has misled the court, the complainant alleged. A petition seeking cancellation of her bail was pending before the Supreme Court, it said. Six people were killed and over 100 injured in a bomb blast at Malegaon, a communally sensitive textile town in north Maharashtra's Nashik district, on September 29, 2008. The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad arrested Thakur and others in the case, alleging they were part of a Hindu extremist group which carried out the blast. The NIA later gave Thakur a clean chit, but the court did not discharge Thakur. It dropped charges against her under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, but she is still facing trial under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Indian Penal Code sections.