This text consists of knowledge from Justice Delayed, an ongoing challenge by the writer to create a database of prison circumstances from greater than 650 district courts in India.
On the evening of Sept. 29, 2008, an explosion ripped via a crowded space within the predominantly Muslim metropolis of Malegaon, Maharashtra in India, killing six individuals and injuring greater than 100 others. Investigators alleged that the blast was triggered by a bomb planted in a bike registered to Pragya Chandrapalsingh Thakur, then a 38-year-old nun and Hindutva (or Hindu nationalist) activist.
Thakur was probably the most excessive profile of the seven individuals arrested and charged for his or her alleged involvement within the blast. Virtually 17 years later, all the accused have been acquitted, with the decide reportedly saying that the prosecution couldn’t show that the bomb was fitted to the bike or that it belonged to Thakur.
Showing in court docket on Thursday, Thakur reportedly advised the decide that the investigation had “ruined [her] life”. She was quoted by a number of shops saying that she had been “arrested and tortured” by investigators. She additionally hailed her acquittal as a “victory of Hindutva”.
In the meantime, the advocate for the victims’ households has reportedly vowed to problem the acquittals in India’s Excessive Court docket.
Thakur’s court docket look on Thursday was a uncommon one: she has been notably absent for a lot of the trial, citing medical causes together with mind swelling, impaired sight, and a physician advising mattress relaxation “on account of a number of illnesses”.
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Though attending hearings associated to her case was a key situation of her bail, a Bellingcat evaluation of paperwork from the NIA particular court docket exhibits she was recorded as current at solely three of the 162 court docket appointments that targeted on ultimate arguments of the case, from July 24, 2024 to Could 8, 2025.
As of publication, Thakur has not replied to a number of requests for remark over e-mail, textual content messages, and social media about her absences from court docket. One among her attorneys, Advocate JP Mishra, advised Bellingcat that he by no means speaks to her himself and solely corresponds via her private assistant.
Thakur has been on bail since April 2017, when organised crime costs towards her have been dropped by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), a state police physique. A 12 months later, the Nationwide Investigation Company (NIA) – the primary counter-terrorism investigation company in India – initiated a brand new case towards Thakur and 6 others over their alleged involvement in the identical incident.
In 2019, Thakur was elected as a Member of Parliament for the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh beneath the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Occasion (BJP), and served 5 years within the position earlier than stepping down in 2024 on the finish of her time period.
Pragya Thakur: Homicide Suspect Turned Politician
That is the second prison case the place Thakur has been charged, after which acquitted on account of an absence of proof.
She was beforehand accused, then acquitted in 2017, of being one in all eight individuals concerned within the December 2007 homicide of Sunil Joshi, reportedly a shut aide of Thakur earlier than they fell out.
Joshi was a suspect within the 2007 Samjhauta Specific practice bombing which killed 68 individuals, principally Pakistan residents. Based mostly on native stories, the court docket acquitted Thakur and her co-accused after discovering the case was not investigated with the “required seriousness” by the NIA and state police, who it stated produced “weak and self-contradictory evidences”. Thakur was not current in court docket when the decision for this case was delivered.
When the BJP fielded her as a candidate within the 2019 basic elections, Thakur had been accused of terrorism, homicide and prison conspiracy over the 2008 Malegaon blast.
Nisar Ahmed Sayyed Bilal, whose son was one of many victims of the Malegaon bombing, filed an software within the trial court docket to forestall her from working within the election, however this was dismissed.Thakur gained her seat by a large margin towards her opponent – a two-time chief minister of the state – and served as a member of parliament for 5 years.
Whereas in workplace, Thakur continued to be a controversial determine. She was typically quoted making incendiary feedback towards the nation’s minority Muslim neighborhood, together with accusing them of “love jihad” and inspiring Hindus to arm themselves towards Muslims by sharpening their kitchen knives. This was even though she was representing a constituency with a considerably Muslim inhabitants of greater than half 1,000,000, as of the most recent 2011 census knowledge.
In one in all her speeches delivered in parliament in December 2023, Thakur criticised the earlier authorities for permitting Muslims accused of crimes to safe bail “regardless of being criminals”, although she was out on bail herself.
She has additionally been quoted in stories claiming that cow urine can shield towards Covid-19 and that the identical substance had cured her breast most cancers. Nonetheless, a surgeon who operated on her was quoted in an interview saying that she underwent a mastectomy for the latter situation. One among her attorneys, Advocate JP Mishra, additionally advised Bellingcat that Thakur had two surgical procedures whereas in jail, and one after her launch, to battle most cancers.
The decision on Thursday marks the tip of one of many longest-running terrorism trials within the nation.
Procedural delays aren’t unusual in India’s justice system – it reportedly has a staggering backlog of fifty million pending circumstances – however Bellingcat’s evaluation discovered that this case took for much longer than different related ones beneath India’s anti-terror Illegal Actions (Prevention) Act (UAPA). Knowledge from the NIA particular court docket, which solely offers with costs beneath the UAPA, exhibits that 5 different trials it recorded as accomplished as of July 25 this 12 months have been determined in a median of 19.6 months. The Malegaon case was heard 1,187 occasions over a interval of 84 months earlier than Thursday’s verdict was delivered.
Timeline of Key Dates within the 2008 Malegaon Trial
Thakur launched on bail.
Organised crime costs
dropped.
Thakur elected as MP
from Bhopal as a
BJP candidate.
Pragya Thakur, a Hindu nun,
arrested by state police.
Thakur and 6 others
acquitted by NIA court docket.
Six killed, about 100
injured by bomb
explosion in
Malegaon, Maharashtra.
NIA took over
the investigation.
Trial begins in NIA court docket,
Mumbai.
Thakur’s time period as MP
ends.
Timeline of Key Dates: 2008 Malegaon Trial
Six killed, about 100 injured by bomb
explosion in Malegaon, Maharashtra.
Pragya Thakur, a Hindu nun,
arrested by state police.
NIA took over the investigation.
Thakur launched on bail after organised crime
costs towards her have been dropped.
Trial begins in NIA court docket in Mumbai.
Thakur elected as MP from Bhopal as a BJP
candidate.
Thakur’s time period as MP ends.
Thakur and 6 others acquitted by NIA court docket.
Getting the Knowledge
In India’s justice system, every case earlier than a court docket is assigned a novel Case Quantity File (CNR), which is used for all paperwork associated to that case.
The CNR might change if the case is transferred between courts. For instance, the Malegaon case had a distinct CNR within the 10 years that it was being investigated by the ATS earlier than it was handed over to the NIA.
Looking the eCourts web site for case quantity MHCC020159052016, the CNR assigned to the proceedings for the NIA particular court docket case, returned 1,187 distinctive court docket data from July 5, 2018 to Could 8, 2025.
We targeted on the hearings that befell after ultimate arguments started on July 24, 2024, as much as Could 8, 2025, when the decision was initially scheduled to be delivered. The Could 8 listening to was postponed to July 31, and there have been no different court docket appearances recorded between then and Thursday’s verdict.
Of the 162 court docket data of the case we extracted for this era, one case from October 17, 2024 had no notes recorded within the paperwork, making it inconceivable to find out if Thakur was current or not.
For the remaining 161 paperwork, we manually checked the textual content to find out if Thakur was recorded as current. The total dataset of those paperwork, in addition to the evaluation by two unbiased coders (the writer and editor of this story), may be accessed right here.
Our evaluation confirmed that Thakur was recorded as current on solely three events throughout this era – first on January 30, 2024, greater than six months after the ultimate arguments started, at a listening to the following day, and once more on Could 8 this 12 months when the decision was initially scheduled to be delivered.
Medical Causes Cited for Absences
Court docket paperwork and native stories present that Thakur’s absence from proceedings for this case dates again years. Whereas the court docket has accepted medical certificates produced by her advocates, the judges presiding over the case have additionally repeatedly famous her absences, with one decide particularly stating in 2019 that she must be in court docket at the very least as soon as per week. In December 2020, the prosecution argued that it appeared as if she was intentionally avoiding showing in court docket.
“Evidently they’ve taken the authorized course of and court docket with no consideration,” Advocate Shahid Nadeem, a consultant for the victims, advised Bellingcat in an e-mail previous to the decision.
A timeline of Thakur’s court docket attendance through the ultimate arguments:
Thakur has maintained that her absences from court docket have been justified by medical causes, together with circumstances she claims have been brought on by “torture” whereas in custody of the ATS. Throughout her time period as an MP, the court docket additionally granted exemptions to her court docket look based mostly on her attorneys’ arguments that she wanted to attend parliamentary periods.
On Sept. 3, 2024, Thakur’s attorneys filed for an exemption for her look in court docket, saying she was “affected by neurological downside with swelling in mind and is unable to see correctly”. The court docket authorised the appliance on the situation that exemptions have been filed for every day the case was heard till Thakur appeared, stating that she ought to seem on the newest by Sept. 18.
Per week after this software, on Sept. 10, a neighborhood BJP chief from Bhopal posted a video on Instagram displaying Thakur attending a groundbreaking ceremony for a temple within the Madhya Pradesh metropolis. Bellingcat was unable to independently confirm when this groundbreaking ceremony befell, and whether or not it was through the interval that Thakur’s attorneys stated she was severely ailing. Bellingcat emailed Kishan Suryavanshi, the native chief who posted the video, to ask when it was recorded, however didn’t obtain a reply as of publication.
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On Sept. 18, Thakur’s attorneys filed one other software saying that she had been moved from a hospital in Bhopal to 1 in Meerut, within the neighbouring Uttar Pradesh state. The applying stated her medical situation had deteriorated, that she was “unable to see correctly” and that it will take a “very long time” for her restoration. The court docket authorised this software, with the identical situation that her attorneys should file exemptions for every listening to that she was absent from court docket, till a contemporary date of Sept. 30.
When one more software was filed for related causes on Sept. 30, Particular Choose AK Lahoti warned that Thakur ought to seem by Oct. 3, or a court docket order can be issued. One among Thakur’s attorneys started making ultimate arguments for her case that day.
Regardless of this warning, the decide continued to grant exemption functions made for Thakur all through October, as ultimate arguments particular to the fees towards her continued in court docket. Lastly, on Nov. 5, 2024, Lahoti rejected an software by Thakur’s attorneys to exempt her from court docket but once more.
This software, in response to the court docket paperwork, was filed with a photocopy of a medical certificates displaying that Thakur was present process “panchkarm therapy”. This will likely check with Panchakarma, a sort of Ayurvedic or various medical therapy. Mishra, Thakur’s lawyer, advised Bellingcat that Thakur was in an Ayurvedic hospital in Meerut on the time.
In response, Lahoti issued a bailable warrant of 10,000 Indian Rupees (US$114) for Thakur, stating that the ultimate listening to would proceed and that Thakur’s presence “is important”. A bailable warrant is a warrant for arrest that permits the accused to be launched if bail is paid to ensure their look in court docket.
The following day, a photograph of Thakur was posted to her X profile, along with her face wanting barely swollen. Within the caption, she appeared guilty the Indian Nationwide Congress for “torture” and “struggling”, together with mind swelling in addition to listening to and visible impairment. The final line of her publish, in Hindi, interprets to, “If I stay via this, I’ll undoubtedly go to court docket.”
‘No Particular Remedy’
Thakur’s trial has been a controversial one. In 2015, the previous particular public prosecutor (SPP) assigned to the case, Rohini Salian, stated the NIA had requested her to “go comfortable” on the case, an allegation the company denied.
Nadeem, the advocate for the victims, advised Bellingcat: “So far as the looks of the accused through the trial, NIA’s prosecutor has not taken objection to the exemption software of the accused on a lot of the events.”
“Victims have restricted rights in prison trials,” he stated.
Bellingcat contacted three senior officers within the NIA vertical of the Counter Terrorism and Counter Radicalization Division, which is a part of the Ministry of House Affairs of India, asking to debate how the company seen Thakur’s absence from court docket. As of publication, the officers had not replied to a number of emails.
The present SPP Avinash Rasal advised Bellingcat that Thakur had supplied medical causes for her absences through the ultimate arguments and that her causes have been thought-about by the court docket. “At no time the case was stalled on account of non-appearance of the accused. Their advocates at all times remained current,” he added.
Bellingcat’s evaluation exhibits that Thakur’s advocates have been recorded as current in any respect 161 hearings after ultimate arguments started.
On at the very least two events in October 2024, the decide accepted the exemptions filed for her absence whereas noting that her advocates have been current and her absence was “not inflicting any hurdle within the easy trial”. The identical decide, nonetheless, additionally stated the subsequent month that her presence was needed for the ultimate arguments.
Rasal stated there was “no stress” on the prosecution on account of Thakur’s place as a member of parliament.
“No particular therapy was given to anybody.”
Galen Reich designed the scrolling timeline for this piece.
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