AN INDIAN court on Thursday acquitted former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and six others accused in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case.
The blast near a mosque in Malegaon, Maharashtra, killed six people and injured more than 100 when a bomb strapped to a motorcycle exploded.
Seven people were on trial for terrorism and criminal conspiracy. The prosecution alleged that Thakur’s motorbike was used to carry the explosives and that she attended a key meeting before the attack.
Judge AK Lahoti ruled that the prosecution failed to present sufficient evidence against the accused. “Judgements cannot be based on morals and public perception,” Lahoti said, according to Live Law.
Defence lawyer Ranjit Nair said the court found that no proof was presented against the accused.
Reacting to the verdict, parliamentarian Asaduddin Owaisi called it “disappointing” and said those killed were “targeted for their religion”. He wrote on X that a “deliberately shoddy investigation/prosecution is responsible for the acquittal.”
India’s counter-terrorism unit had said during the trial that the attack was aimed at inciting communal tensions.
Thakur, 55, spent nine years in jail before being granted bail in 2017. She later won the Bhopal parliamentary seat as a BJP candidate.
Under Indian election law, individuals can contest elections unless convicted of a crime.
Thakur has previously drawn criticism for comments including calling Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin a “patriot” and claiming cow urine cured her cancer.
(With inputs from agencies)
FILE PHOTO: Nepal's former Chief Justice Sushila Karki looks on during the launch of her autobiography "Nyaya" at a ceremony in Kathmandu, Nepal, September 22, 2018. REUTERS/Stringer
