Day's Exemption Given To Pragya Thakur From Appearance Over Malegaon Case

A special court Monday granted a day's exemption from appearance on health grounds to BJP lawmaker Pragya Singh Thakur, accused of conspiring the September 2008 Malegaon bomb blast.

Pragya Thakur Monday filed an application through her advocate seeking exemption from appearance for one day citing ill health, which was accepted by Special NIA Judge VS Padalkar.

Pragya Thakur had appeared before the court, which is presently conducting trial in the blast case against her and six others, last week for the first time after winning the Lok Sabha elections from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh.

The court had, last month, directed all the accused to appear before it once a week, stating that an exemption would be granted if cogent reasons were submitted.

Three of the accused - Ramesh Upadhyay, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sameer Kulkarni - appeared on Monday before the court.

The court directed Upadhyay and Chaturvedi to the witness box and asked them if they were aware that a blast had occured on September 29, 2008 in Malegaon which killed six persons and injuring several others.

The two said they had no information about it.

The court had asked similar question to Kulkarni and Thakur last week to which both said they had no information regarding the blast.

The accused persons are facing trial under various sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

They have been charged under sections 16 (committing terrorist act) and 18 (conspiring to commit terrorist act) of the UAPA.

They are also facing charges under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.

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