Tablighi Jamaat Woes: Police charge sheet against 69 members

New Delhi, 29 July 2020 [Fik/News Sources]: The police on Tuesday filed six charge sheets in various courts indicting 69 foreign nationals. The Tablighi members belong to nine different countries who were attending the congregation. The lawyer said “the members violated visa norms and COVID-19 guidelines.”

The Tablighi Jamaat attendees belong to Indonesia, Brazil, Djibouti, Kenya, Tanzania, Australia, Nigeria, South Africa and the US, the lawyer said.
 
Karkardooma District court had filed three charge sheets and other three at the Tis Hazari District Court. The counsel for some members, Advocate Ashima Mandla informed that on Tuesday the remaining charge sheets were filed.

64 foreign Tablighis arrested in Bhopal

Deportation for breaking rules
These Tablighi members belong to a group of 955 others and the Crime Branch of Delhi had booked these members earlier. However, the relevant court had allowed their deportation after the payment of a fine.

Different police stations had filed the charge sheets and the anti-COVID restrictions imposed fall under the Epidemic Act and Disaster Management.

From where it all started
A religious congregation held at Nizamuddin in Delhi in March this year amidst coronavirus pandemic had hit the headlines.

A trial court in Sehore, the neighbouring district of Bhopal, on July 25, sentenced eight Tablighi Jamaat members to a month-long imprisonment. Of them six were foreign nationals and two were from India who accompanied the foreigners.

Police had arrested the Tablighi members on May 22 and produced them before the court on May 23 and later sent to jail. On July 14, they got bail as per an order of the high court.

With PTI inputs