NIA court rejects plea seeking to bar Pragya Thakur from contesting poll

A special NIA court in Mumbai on Wednesday rejected the application filed by the father of one of the victims of the 2008 Malegaon blast case seeking to bar BJP leader Pragya Singh Thakur from contesting the Lok Sabha election.

  

Malegaon blast accused Thakur, who is currently out on bail, is contesting the Lok Sabha poll from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh on the BJP's ticket. 

The petitioner moved the court last week, urging it to bar Thakur from contesting the election after the BJP fielded her from Bhopal, where she is locked in a battle with Congress veteran Digvijay Singh. He also mentioned in his plea that a petition seeking cancellation of her bail was pending before the Supreme Court.

Rejecting his application, Special judge for National



Investigation Agency (NIA) cases V S Padalkar said lawyers were well aware that this was not the proper forum for the plea. 

Six people were killed and over 100 injured in a bomb blast at Malegaon 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 (MCOCA), but she is still facing trial under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Indian Penal Code sections.