Truth and religion always win, says Pragya on court ruling

Reacting to a court ruling which rejected the demand that she be barred from contesting polls, Malegaon blast accused and BJP Lok Sabha candidate Pragya Singh Thakur Wednesday said "truth and religion" always win.

A special court for the National Investigation Agency (NIA) cases in Mumbai Wednesday rejected the application filed by the father of a victim of the 2008 Malegaon blast seeking to bar Thakur from contesting the Lok Sabha election.

"Truth is truth. Truth and dharm (religion) always triumph," Thakur, who is contesting the Lok Sabha election from Bhopal against Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh, told reporters here.

Nisar Sayyad, who lost his son in the blast, had moved the court last week.

Rejecting his application, special judge V S Padalkar said the NIA court was not the right forum for the plea.

Thakur's lawyer J P Mishra submitted in the court that she was fighting the election for the "cause of ideology and for the "sake of the nation" and "to condemn the people who say there is Hindu terrorism".

Sayyad had said that Thakur got bail (from the high court) on health grounds, but if she was healthy enough to contest election, then she has misled the court.

Thakur's lawyer, however, said her condition had improved but she had not fully recovered.

Six people were killed and over 100 injured in a blast at Malegaon, a communally sensitive town in north Maharashtra's Nashik district, on September 29, 2008.

The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad arrested Thakur and others in the case, alleging they were part of a Hindu extremist group which carried out the blast.

Thakur is facing trial in the case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.