Pragya Thakur did not notice construction work: NIA court on cleanliness complain

Mumbai: Days after Malegaon blast case accused Pragya Thakur had complained about lack of proper seating and cleanliness in the courtroom, the NIA court on Thursday said she 'deliberately' did not notice the construction work happening at the court.

Thakur, the BJP MP from Bhopal, had created a scene in the special NIA court on June 7 by standing throughout the proceedings complaining about lack of proper chair and cleanliness.

The Court also rejected Thakur's plea for a permanent exemption from appearing in the court saying, "The health grounds, not having a house near Mumbai, attending parliament session, etc were not reasonable grounds."

Pragya Thakur's counsel told the court that as an MP, she needs to attend the Parliament and listen to the party whip. However, there was no paperwork.

The judge noted that attending Parliament is necessary and granted an exemption to Thakur for today. It also said that the court may consider a fresh application if filed tomorrow.

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

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

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

The charges include 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.