MUMBAI: A special NIA court asked BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, to appear before it from Tuesday onwards for the recording of statements and warned her of “necessary action” if she fails to do so.Special Judge A K Lahoti passed this direction on February 22 while granting Thakur’s plea for exemption for the day on medical grounds.Thakur and six others are facing trial in the case under provisions of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code (IPC).The National Investigation Agency court is currently recording statements of the accused under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).In his order, Special Judge Lahoti observed that Thakur and some other accused are not attending the court regularly on the fixed date.”From time to time, their exemption applications for the reasons put forth by them are also considered by the court. It is observed that some accused are residents of other states and while moving the application they used to mention that they face difficulty in getting tickets at eleventh hour. So, they could not attend the court,” the court said.However, to overcome the aforesaid difficulty, dates are given in advance to all the accused and, hence, exemption on the same ground will not be considered, the court said.The court considered Thakur’s plea, filed on the ground that she was under medication, for the day.
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