Sadhvi Pragya gets bail, Purohit still in jail
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted bail to Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, one of the prime accused in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case, nearly nine years after her arrest. However, the plea by her co-accused — former Army officer Lt. Col. Prasad Shrikant Purohit — was rejected by the High Court. Purohit had challenged a lower court's rejection of his bail plea.
“Taking into account the totality of the facts and circumstances, we allow the appeal and (Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur) is directed to be released on bail,” said a division bench of Justice Ranjit More and Justice Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi. The court also said that prima facie, there was no case made out against Sadhvi, who has been granted bail 11 months after the National Investigation Agency gave her a clean chit in May 2016.
Sadhvi Pragya's lawyer J.P. Mishra said he urged the court for a month's time to arrange the bail amount and surety, which the court accepted. “In the meantime, while we arrange the money and surety, we shall get her released by this week from custody ever since her arrest on October 23, 2008,” Mishra said.
The investigating agencies had said earlier that the terror strike was carried out allegedly by right-wing group Abhinav Bharat. Eleven accused, including Sadhvi and Purohit, were arrested.
Soon after the grant of bail to Sadhvi Pragya, NGO Jamiat Ulama-e-Maharashtra announced it will challenge the order in the Supreme Court. “The JUeM, on behalf of the blast victims, intervened and opposed the bail of Sadhvi and Purohit. We have been providing legal assistance to the victims and shall now challenge the bail order in the Supreme Court,” the organisation said in a statement.
At least six persons were killed in the blast in Malegaon, a Muslim-dominated powerloom town in Nashik district, on September 29, 2008.