Pragya Thakur barred from campaigning for 3 days over remarks on Babri Masjid, Hemant Karkare

The Election Commission of India has barred BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Bhopal Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur from campaigning for 72 hours. The ban would come into force from 6.00 am, May 2 (Thursday).

The poll panel has taken this decision for her controversial remarks against Babri Masjid and late Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare.

The panel "strongly condemned" her remarks" and "warned her "not to repeat the misconduct in future".  The EC said though Pragya had apologised for her statement against the slain IPS officer, it found the statement to be "unwarranted".

Earlier, the EC had directed the police to file an FIR against Pragya Thakur for her remark that she was "proud" of her participation in demolition of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya in 1992.

The EC had issued a show-cause notice to Thakur, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast accused currently out on bail, over her remark made during an interview to a news channel.

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 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.

The EC had also issued a show-cause notice to Thakur over her controversial remark about 26/11 martyr and Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare.

Thakur had claimed Karkare died during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks as she "cursed" him for "torturing" her when he probed the blast case as chief of the Anti- Terrorism Squad (ATS).

Six people were killed and over 100 injured when an explosive device strapped on a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon, a town in north Maharashtra, on September 29, 2008.

With PTI Inputs