Mumbai: A special NIA court in Mumbai on Thursday rejected an application filed by Sadhvi Pragya Thakur's for permanent exemption from attending the weekly court proceedings till July 26.
Pragya mentioned her status as MP who has to attend the Parliament on day-to-day basis as grounds for exemption from attending the court proceedings. The newly elected Bhopal MP had said in her plea that she was suffering from various ailments and was not in the condition to attend the court. Furthermore, she also sought permanent exemption citing her illness, which was also rejected.
Her counsel J.P. Mishra told the court that as a newly elected Bhopal MP, she has her duties to fulfill. He also submitted that as per party's whip, she would have to attend the on going Parliament session. Therefore, she should be exempted from appearance at least till the end of Parliament session on July 26, the lawyer said.
Special judge Vinod Padalkar said these grounds were “not reasonable and genuine”. “Attendance of Parliament is necessary and one should obey whip of the party. However, no documentary evidence about any such whip was produced,” the judge said.
Special Public Prosec-utor (SPP) also opposed the said application and told the court had given her relief and she is now attending court once in a week. He also told that there was no document produced in support of her application.
Pragya also said that being a ‘sadhvi’, she has to follow a strict discipline for her ‘sadhna’ (worship) and adhere to certain dietary rules. In view of all this, it was not possible for her to travel from Bhopal to Mumbai every week.
The judge also said that these grounds were not reasonable for granting a permanent exemption from attending the court once in a week during day-to-day hearing of the blast case. The court, however, gave her exemption on Thursday from attending the court.
Pragya, during her last appearance, had complained about dust in the courtroom and the chair provided for her. The court had last month directed all the accused to appear before it once a week.
