An Indian court on Thursday acquitted a Hindu nationalist nun —  also a former lawmaker — and six others. They had faced charges for participating in a deadly 2008 bombing near a mosque.  

The attack killed six people and wounded more than 100 others when a bomb strapped to a motorcycle exploded close to a mosque in Malegaon in the western state of Maharashtra.

Authorities tried seven people, including former MP Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, on terrorism and criminal conspiracy charges in a case that dragged on for years.

Who is Pragya Singh Thakur?

The 55-year-old former member of parliament spent nine years in jail before she was given bail in 2017.

Thakur caused trouble when she called the radical Hindu who killed India’s independence hero Mahatma Gandhi a "patriot", earning her a public rebuke from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

She had belonged to Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party, but became a nun two years before the bomb blast took place in Malegaon. 

The prosecution had argued that Thakur's motorbike carried the explosives and that she attended a key planning meeting before the attack.

However, the judge ruled that the prosecution had failed to provide sufficient evidence against Thakur and the six others on Thursday.

"Judgements cannot be based on morals and public perception," the judge said.

Victims 'targeted for their religion'

Attacks on Muslims are not infrequent in Hindu-majority India. Indian parliamentarian Asaduddin Owaisi called the verdict "disappointing," saying those killed had been "targeted for their religion."

"A deliberately shoddy investigation/prosecution is responsible for the acquittal," he said in a post on X.

Defense lawyer Ranjit Nair said the judge noted that the prosecution could not "present any proof against the accused".

During the trial, India's counter-terrorism unit said the 2008 bombing was arranged to stir up religious tensions.

All the accused were out on bail at the time of the ruling.

Edited by: Elizabeth Schumacher