BJP MP Pragya Thakur gets no relief from NIA court

A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Mumbai discarded BJP MP Pragya Thakur's appeal for temporary relief from being present in court once in a week. The Bhopal MP is an accused in the Malegaon Blast case and is out on bail; the judge excused her presence from court for Thursday.

Thakur reasoned that since Lok Sabha is in session, she needs to be present in Parliament and should be exempted at least till July 26. In the application filed through her lawyer advocate JP Mishra, she also said that she has to follow strict discipline for her 'sadhna' (worship) as she is a 'sadhvi' 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. She had also cited her duties as Bhopal's MP as a reason for not being able to attend court regularly.

Special judge V S Padalkar said these grounds were "not reasonable and genuine". "Attendance of Parliament is necessary and one should obey whip of the party," he said, "however, no documentary evidence about any such whip was produced."

— Zee Media Newsroom