Pragya gets day's exemption from appearance for illness

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

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

Thakur had appeared before the court, which is presently conducting a 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 occurred on September 29, 2008, in Malegaon which killed six persons and injuring several others.

The duo said they had no information about it.

The court had asked a 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 IPC sections 120(b) (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 153(a) (promoting enmity between two religious groups).

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