FIR registered against Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur for poll code violation

New Delhi, Apr 22: An FIR has been registered against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur over her remark on the Babri Masjid demolition issue. The FIR was filed after the Election Commission (EC) directed the police to book her for her remark that she was "proud" of her participation in demolition of the Babri Masjid.

 

The EC had earlier had issued a notice to Thakur, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast. Thakur made the controversial remark while speaking to a television channel. After getting the EC show-cause notice, Thakur said she stood by her remark and that the notice would be replied to in accordance with the law. In the notice issued by the Bhopal District Election Officer and Collector Sudam Khade Saturday night, a clarification has been sought over Thakur's remark.

"Pragya Singh Thakur was issued notice by district election officer for her comment on Babri Masjid's demolition and her response to it was not satisfactory. Therefore, FIR has been registered against her for violation of model code of conduct," Sanjay Kumar Srivastava, SDM Bhopal, told news agency ANI.

The EC notice had said Thakur's remark was a violation of chapter 4 of the model code of conduct, which pertains to maintenance of harmony between castes, communities, religious, linguistic groups.

During the interview, Thakur was quoted as saying "Ram Mandir hum banayenge aur bhavya banayenge, hum todne gaye the dhancha, maine chadhkar toda tha dhancha, iss par mujhe bhayankar garv hai. "Mujhe Ishwar ne shakti di thi humne desh ka kalank mitaya hai (A grand Ram temple will be built. I had gone to demolish the structure and had climbed atop it to break it. I am tremendously proud of it. God gave me strength to wipe off a blot on this country)."

The BJP had announced Pragya Thakur, an accused in the Malegaon bomb blast, as its candidate to take on former Madhya Pradesh CM Digvijaya Singh. Thakur's name was doing the rounds soon after Singh's candidature was announced by the Congress.