Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Pragya Si🐟ngh Thakur on Friday decided to stand for almost two-and-a-half-hours in the special court conducting the trial in the 🃏2008 Malegaon case.
A prime accused in the case, Thakur appeared before the court after her victory in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls but refused to sit in the chair, questioning𓆉 the standards of cleanliness in the courtroom.
The MP, who has been given bail by the high court on medical grounds, entered the court around 12.45 pm assistedﷺ by her aides, news a🎉gency PTI reported.
Initially, special judge V S Padalkar asked her to sit in the enclosure for the accused at the ✨back of the room.
Before she sat on the ﷽wooden bench inside the enclosure, her aides spread a red velvet cloth.
Thakur sat there with co-accused Sudhakar D💃wivedi and Sameer Kulkarni.
Later, when the judge called her to the witness box in the front and asked if she wanted a chair, Thak🐎ur said she preferred to stand leaning against the window.
Recess was called after about 15 minutes. When the proceedin𒈔gs resumed, the judge again asked, "I am asking on humanitarian grounds, (do) you want to sit or st๊and?"
Thakur said she had a throat infection because of which she had a problem hearing. Then the judge ordered 🧔to place a chair near the witness box, saying she could sit if she wanted.
However, Thakur continued to stand near the witness box for the n🌞exꦰt around two and a half hours.
After the proceedings ended and the judge left, Thaku🅘r bemoaned what she called as the &ꦦquot;lack of facilities" in the courtroom.
"This is not the way to treat people after calling (them to court)....there is no proper place to sit or stand here,"▨; she said.
Pointing to the chair offered to her, she sai𝐆d, "This is the chair to sit? If I sit on it, I would end up on bed (become bed-ridden)."
Saying she was unable to stand for a long time, she wondered what was the judge tryin🐼g to prove by offering he💝r such a chair.
"Jab tak saza nahi hoti baithne ko jagah do baad main chahiye tꦐo fasi de do (Till I am sentenced, provide me place to sit. Later you can hang me if you want)," 𒁃she said.
Some lawyers wondered why the chair -🐽- wh🍒ich had a cushion and armrest, did not meet Thakur's approval.
Thakur also raisꦜed a stink over the cleanliness in t✱he courtroom.
"There is no space to breathe...there is dust wherever I t🐻ouch... I am allergic to everything. Yahan jhadoo nahi lagti kya (Doesn't anyone e🎀ven sweep the floor)?" she said.
Her lawyers mollified her sayi�ꦑ�ng she can file an application (to get better facilities) and took her out of the courtroom.
They told reporters that Thakur raised t𝓡hese issues because of her medical condition.
(With inputs from PTI)
