Tablighi Jamaat 'deliberately, willfully' flouted laws: Police tells HC

The police informed the court that the authorities of the Markaz at the Tablighi Jamaat headquarters in Delhi's Nizamuddin area were contacted by the Delhi Police. One Mufti Shahzad was apprised of the situation arising out of the spread of Covid-19 and was asked to take immediate action for preventing the spread of the disease.

He was directed to send the foreigner devotees back to their respective countries and other Indian persons to their respective native places. "However, no one paid any heed to the lawful directions of the Delhi Police," the investigating agency told the court.

"They deliberately, willfully, negligently and malignantly disobeyed the lawful directions promulgated in this regard. Written notices were also issued to Maulana Saad and the Markaz management. However, they refused to pay any heed," the police said in their report.

The Delhi Police also told the court that an audio has been found where Tablighi Jamaat head Maulana Saad was "heard asking his followers to defy the lockdown and social distancing measures and to attend the religious gathering of the Markaz."

"An audio recording, purportedly of Maulana Saad, head of the Tablighi Jamaat, was found in circulation on WhatsApp on 21.03.2020, in which the speaker was heard asking his followers to defy the lockdown and social distancing measures and to attend the religious gathering of the Markaz," the police said.

The status report was filed while a division bench of the high court presided over by Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rajnish Bhatnagar heard a plea seeking the release of 916 foreign nationals, who participated in a congregation at the Nizamuddin Markaz in mid-March, and have been held in institutional quarantine since March 30 despite having testing negative for Covid-19.

The court has also issued a notice to the Delhi Police in connection with the said petition filed by 20 of the 916 foreigners, who said the continued detention violated the very fabric of liberty.

It was further informed by way of the status report that the Delhi Police had neither arrested, nor detained anyone in connection with the case lodged against members of the Tablighi Jamaat for participating in the religious congregation at the Nizamuddin Markaz.

During the course of the hearing, Delhi government standing counsel (criminal) Rahul Mehra and advocate Chaitanya Gosain appraised the court that the investigation was being conducted on a day-to-day basis.

Senior advocate Rebecca John and advocate Ashima Mandla, representing the petitioner, requested the court that the foreign nationals who have tested Covid-19 negative be released from institutional quarantine.

The police informed the high court that around 1,300 devotees from various states as well as foreign countries were found residing in the Markaz premises without maintaining any social distancing norms.

"No one was seen following the directions such as use of facial masks, hand sanitisers etc.," the report read.

The police also told the court that the investigation has revealed that most of these foreigners had arrived on tourist visas or e-visas. "The passports and copies of visa application forms of these foreign participants clearly showed that they had obtained tourist visa or e-visa to arrive in India," the police said.

Another status report was filed in this matter by the Sub-district Magistrate (SDM) which stated that the Department of Revenue is looking after these foreign nationals and is providing all possible facilities to them.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police filed 20 charge-sheets in the Saket court against 82 foreign nationals from 20 countries in connection with the case. The said foreign nationals belong to Afghanistan, Brazil, China, the US, Ukraine, Australia, Egypt, Russia, Algeria, Belgium, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, France, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Tunisia, UK, Fiji, Sudan and the Philippines.

The charge-sheet was filed before duty metropolitan magistrate, Saema Jamil, who is slated to take cognizance of the documents on June 12.

The FIR in this regard was registered on March 31. The case pertains to a congregation at the Banglewali Masjid in Delhi's Hazrat Nizamuddin area in mid-March, in which a large number of foreign nationals had participated.