Pragya Singh Thakur, recently acquitted in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case, thanked the Special NIA Court in Mumbai for its verdict and said on Sunday that the decision is a “slap on the face” of those who maliciously coined the term ‘saffron terror’.
Pragya Singh Thakur (photo:IANS)
Pragya Singh Thakur, recently acquitted in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case, thanked the Special NIA Court in Mumbai for its verdict and said on Sunday that the decision is a “slap on the face” of those who maliciously coined the term ‘saffron terror’.
Pragya Thakur arrived in Bhopal on Sunday for the first time since the verdict. Donning a saffron robe, the Sadhvi told media persons at Raja Bhoj International Airport here that the Special NIA Court’s decision was a victory for Hindutva.
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“This is a victory for Saffron and Hindutva. ‘Satyamev Jayate’ (Truth Alone Triumphs) has been upheld. Those who falsely propagated a fabricated term like ‘saffron terror’ have been exposed and shamed,” Pragya Thakur averred.
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“The society and the country have given a befitting reply to those who coined the term saffron terror. The court’s decision is clear, and it is a slap on the face of our opponents,” asserted Pragya Thakur, the former BJP Lok Sabha Member from Bhopal.
She was accorded a grand welcome at her Bhopal residence with flower garlands, amid drumbeats and the distribution of sweets.
The Special NIA Court of Justice A K Lahoti on 31 July acquitted all seven accused of the Malegaon bomb blast case, including Pragya Thakur and Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, stating there was no “credible or concrete evidence” against them.
On 29 September 2008, six Muslims were killed and over 100 others were injured in a bomb blast near a mosque in Malegaon town in Maharashtra’s Nashik district.
During the investigation, seven prime accused were listed, including Pragya Thakur, as investigators claimed that a motorcycle registered in her name was used to plant the bomb that eventually exploded. She was arrested in October 2008 on charges of terrorism.
The investigation was subsequently handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2011.
At a hearing in the Special NIA Court in Mumbai in April this year, the NIA had sought the strictest possible punishment — the death penalty — for all the accused, including Pragya Thakur.
The court had reserved its final verdict for 8 May, but it was deferred, and finally pronounced on 31 July.
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