Man files plea seeking ban on Sadhvi Pragya contesting polls

Mumbai: Sayyed Nisar Ahmed (59), who lost his young son Azhar in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast, has moved an application before the special National Investigating Agency (NIA) court, seeking to restrict accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur from contesting the 2019 Lok Sabha election and have her bail cancelled.  

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded Ms Thakur from the Bhopal Lok Sabha seat against Congress veteran Digvijay Singh on Wednesday and the application has been filed Thursday.  Special NIA Judge Vinod Padalkar Thursday asked Thakur and the NIA to file their say on the application.  The application has been filed by Jamiat-e-Ulema Maharashtra lawyer Sharif Shaikh who is representing Ahmed. Ahmed is an intervener in the case.

The applicant has contended that Ms Thakur misguided the court by producing medical papers that she was suffering from breast cancer and was even unable to walk without support. But now, she is so fit that she is even contesting the election.  The applicant has pointed out that the high court granted conditional bail to Ms Thakur but she did not attend hearing before the trial court on the pretext that she was unwell.

According to the application, she did not attend court proceedings but was seen participating in various programmes and giving “objectionable and instigating” speeches since her release from jail.  Mr Ahmed has requested the court to cancel her bail and restrict her from contesting elections on grounds that the court granted her bail for health reasons.

“But clearly healthy enough to fight elections in the crippling summer heat, which means she has misguided the court,” read the application.  

The applicant has requested the court that she may be asked to attend the court proceedings in Mumbai and barred from contesting the election as the trial in still in progress and the petition for cancellation of bail is sub-judice before the Supreme Court.