FIR against Tablighi Jamaat Chief Maulana Saad
NEW DELHI : Crime Branch of Delhi Police on Tuesday (March 31) lodged an FIR against Maulana Saad and others of Tablighi Jamaat for violation of government order issued in the wake of coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak.
The case was filed under three sections of Epidemic Disease Act 1897- Section 269, 270, 271, and 120-B of Indian Penal Code (IPC) for violation of directions given to the management of Markaz of Basti Nizamuddin.
Twenty-four people in Delhi have tested positive for coronavirus and more cases may be confirmed after a religious gathering at a mosque in the Nizamuddin area, which has been linked to seven COVID-19 deaths.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that local transmission is under control and community transmission has not started yet, adding that so far 97 positive COVID-19 cases have been reported in Delhi.
“One person has moved to Singapore, two have died while five persons have been cured so far. A total of 89 people are in the hospitals and of these one person has been put on ventilator support while and two have been put on oxygen. The conditions of the rest are stated to be stable. . We are not in the stage of community transmission.”
The Tablighi Jamaat is an Islamic missionary movement set up in 1926, with members across the world. The gathering, which featured sermons, was attended by Tablighi members from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Nepal, Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan and Saudi Arabia. Members had also come from Afghanistan, Algeria, Djibouti, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, England, Fiji, France and Kuwait.
300 foreigners who were on tourist visa and so, attended the event illegally, face blacklisting.
The attendees reportedly spread out to other parts of the country such as Kashmir and Andhra Pradesh.”As on March 21, there were about 1,746 persons staying in Hazrat Nizamuddin Markaz. Of these, 216 were foreigners and 1,530 were Indians.”
Kejriwal said the people are being tested for the virus, adding “Over 1,548 people have been rescued from the building and more than 441 have been tested for the virus as they showed symptoms and are in the hospital now.
1,107 people had no symptoms but have been to be on quarantine.”Notably, India is under a nationwide lockdown till April 14 due to the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak in the country. Six people have died in Telangana and one man died in Srinagar. Ten more, who returned to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, have tested positive.
In a statement, Markaz Nizamuddin defended itself saying the event was cancelled when PM Modi announced the “Janata Curfew” for March 22. Members could not leave, it said, because trains were suddenly stopped. After that, it said, lockdowns ordered first by the Delhi government and then by the PM left the visitors stranded in the Markaz.
