Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted bail to Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur (44) — an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case in which she was chargesheeted by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in 2009 — due to lack of evidence.
While granting bail, the HC observed that “prima facie there is no case made out against her on the grounds of which the court could deny bail”.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which took over the case from the ATS, had given Thakur, currently in judicial custody in Bhopal, a clean chit in 2016 on the grounds of weak evidence against her.
The HC directed her to submit a surety of '5 lakh and hand over her passport to the NIA court.
“It cannot be said there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accusations made against her are prima facie true. Once it is held so, then the benefit of bail cannot be withheld to the appellant, even if the offences alleged against her by ATS are grave and serious,” the court said. While granting bail to Thakur, the court considered that she has been suffering from breast cancer. The court also noted that she had been in custody for the last eight years and she could not even walk without the supports of others. “Two witnesses, who have not yet retracted their statements recorded by the ATS, did not disclose any objectionable and incriminating material against the sadhvi,” the judges said.
