No, Pragya Thakur Wasn’t 4 Years Old During Babri Demolition

Pragya Thakur was born sometime in 1971, and was at least 21 years old in 1992.

Pragya Thakur was born sometime in 1971, and was nearly 21 years old, or more, in 1992.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

CLAIM

After BJP’s Bhopal candidate Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur made headlines yet again, this time for claiming that she was part of the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992, several people on Twitter mocked her, including former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, claiming she was merely four years old when the incident took place.

Senior journalist Shekhar Gupta likened Thakur’s feat to popular cartoon “Chhota Bheem.”

Thakur had, in an interview with Aaj Tak, said, “Why would we regret the demolition of the Babri Masjid? We are, in fact, proud of it. There were some waste products in the Ram temple and we removed it. This has awakened the self-respect of our country and we will construct a grand Ram temple."

A day later, she reiterated her statement to news agency ANI, saying: “Yes, I had gone there (Ayodhya), I had said it yesterday too, not denying it. I had demolished the structure. I will go there and help in the construction of Ram temple, nobody can stop us from doing that, Ram rashtra hain, rashtra Ram hain.” (Ram is the country, the country is Ram).

TRUE OR FALSE?

According to Thakur’s Lok Sabha nomination papers and affidavit, filed on 22 April, she is 49 years old. This means she was born sometime in 1970.

Further, according to the charge sheet filed against her by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism squad in January 2009, she was 38 years old that year.

This again puts Thakur’s birth year somewhere between 1970 and 1971. Similarly, Thakur’s bail order from 2017 mentions her being “about 44 years” in 2016.

Going by the age mentioned in the charge sheet in 2016, Thakur would have been 46 years old, putting her in the “about 44 years” bracket.

Thus, if we take Thakur’s birth year to be 1970 based on these two documents, in 1992 she would have been around 22 years old – much older than the 4-year-old child that many claim she was.

Speaking to India Today, who also did a fact-check of this claim, Thakur’s sister Upma Singh confirmed that the former was indeed born in 1970. “Sadhvi's birth date is 02/02/1970 and it is mentioned in her mark sheets and Aadhaar card as well,” she said.

WHERE DID CLAIMS OF HER BEING 4 YEARS OLD DURING THE DEMOLITION COME FROM?

Several ‘biodata’ websites such as autobiograhy.tech and dreshare.com mention Thakur’s birth year as 2 April 1988.

However, it could not be ascertained where these websites had gotten this date from.

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