BJP should punish Sadhvi Pragya forgetting the niceties of law: Surjewala

The Congress party on Wednesday demanded the BJP to tender an apology for defending its decision of fielding the Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur from Bhopal Parliamentary Constituency and dared the saffron party to punish the self-styled saffron-robed Sadhvi for conspiring to "annihilate the entire family of Hemant Karkare".

Delhi: The Congress Wednesday dared the Bharatiya Janta Party leaders to punish its Bhopal candidate and Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur forgetting the "niceties of law" for her alleged criminal conspiracy against 26/11 Mumbai terror attack martyr Hemant Karkare's family. The Congress party also demanded an apology from the Bharatiya Janta Party leaders for having defended its decision to give a ticket to the Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, after the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court rejected a plea seeking to bar Thakur from contesting the 17th Lok Sabha elections.

"This is an insult to every Indian soldier who has sacrificed his life for Mother India while fighting terrorism. Apologize to the country and take action against Pragya," said Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala while addressing a presser.

Surjewala added, "We wish Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi forget about the niceties of law, would have punished such a person in their party who wants to annihilate the entire family of Hemant Karkare. "

Further taking a dig at Shah, Surjewala said, "I wish Amit Shah had read the pain of the daughter of Hemant Karkare on the disrespect being shown to the martyrs of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack in an interview to a leading Hindi daily, today (Wednesday)."

The special National Investigation Agency court on Wednesday rejected a plea seeking to bar Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Malegaon blasts accused Pragya Singh Thakur from contesting the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

“In the ongoing elections, the court does not have any legal powers to prohibit anyone from contesting the polls,” the court said,

Since the announcement of the candidature of the self-styled saffron-robed Sadhvi from Bhopal Parliamentary Constituency drew flak from all quarters, BJP leaders including its chief Amit Shah have been defending her saying that she was framed in false cases by those who had coined the term "Hindu terror" and indulged in vote bank politics.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also said that fielding Thakur was a symbolic answer to all those who labeled the “rich Hindu civilization as terrorist” and asserted that “this symbol will prove costly for the Congress”.

Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur is the BJP candidate for the Bhopal Lok Sabha seat against Congress heavyweight and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh.

Earlier, Thakur had accused Karkare of committing an anti-national act by falsely implicating her in the Malegaon blast case and keeping her behind bars without evidence.

Thakur alleged that she was "tortured" during her detention and she had "cursed" him.

"He tortured me and subjected me to harsh abuse which was unbearable. I told him he will be destroyed. A little over a month later 'sutak' (ritual observed after the death of a family member) was going to start...just over a month later, he was shot dead by terrorists and the inauspicious period ended," she said.

Hemant Karkare, a former Mumbai Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) chief, died fighting terrorists during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack. He was also leading the probe into the Malegaon attack.