Mumbai: Lawyers and former prosecutors have rubbished the claims made by the 2008 Malegaon blast accused, Pragya Singh Thakur. Public Prosecutors and lawyers who have been involved the case said, she is misleading the public for the sake of publicity and votes. “The rules are laid down clearly. Every time the accused is produced before the court when in jail, is first taken to the hospital for a medical check up, a doctor of the public hospital certifies their good health and is then produced before the court. There too the judge asks if they are being treated well. This lady did not even once say to the medical doctors or the judge she was being tortured and there was never any proof,” said the legal expert.
After getting a ticket from the BJP to contest from Bhopal, Thakur made claims of being tortured by the Anti Terrorism Squad, blaming the slain chief Hemant Karkare for this torture. Lawyers and prosecutors involved in the 2008 Malegaon blast case are upset with Thakur for maligning Karkare. “She is doing this for cheap publicity and the media seems to be lapping it all up. Her claims should not be given any credence as she still is an accused out on bail,” said a former prosecutor.
Thakur, one of the main accused was in jail from October 2008 to Aril 2017. During this period, in November 2008, there was an application made to the court stating, her co-accused and aide, Bhim Pasricha was forced by the ATS to beat her. In fact during this period, Thakur was produced twice for remand application and not once did she inform the judge of this alleged claim. The claims made by Thakur could not be proved in the Supreme Court, the Bombay High Court or the National Human Rights Commission.
