Tablighi Jamaat: FIR registered against preacher, others under Epidemic Diseases Act
Delhi Police Tuesday registered an FIR against Tablighi Jamaat preacher Maulana Saad and others of members of the outfit under Section 3 of The Epidemic Diseases Act (1897) for organising a congregation at Nizamuddin West Markaz amid the coronavirus outbreak.
A number of coronavirus cases in Delhi as well as Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Kashmir has been traced to the gathering organised in mid-March.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said 1,548 people were evacuated from the Markaz Tablighi Jamaat over the past three days. Of these, 441 were symptomatic of COVID-19 and have been sent to hospital for testing, while the others have been quarantined, he added.
Meanwhile, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs also informed that the attendees of the Tabligh Jamaat at Nizamuddin Markaz in New Delhi on March 21 mainly hailed from Central and South-East Asian countries.
Various nationals, particularly from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Kyrgyzstan come for Tabligh activities. All such foreign nationals normally report their arrival at Tabligh
Markaz at Banglewali Mosque in Hazrat Nizamuddin in New Delhi. From here, they are detailed for Chilla activities to different parts of the country," the Ministry statement said.
An estimated 1,746 persons had assembled for Tabligh Jamaat at Nizamuddin markaz in New Delhi on March 21, out of which 1,530 hailed from states across India while 216 were foreign nationals.
Nationwide contact-tracing is being undertaken by the authorities to locate the COVID-19 infected cases of the contacts of the people who assembled for the Jamaat at Nizamuddin West in New Delhi.
"Chilla activities in all States are coordinated by District Coordinators in different Districts, who, in turn, in some States are supervised by State Amirs. 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," it added.
The Ministry also informed that in addition to the above-mentioned figures, about 824 foreigners had been, as on March 21, doing Chilla activities in various parts of the country.
The Home Ministry had previously dispatched the details of these 824 foreigners with the state police for identifying them, getting them medically screened and quarantining them.
"So far, about 2,137 such persons have been identified in different States… all the Tabligh Jamaat workers staying at Hazrat Nizamuddin Marka are being medically screened since March 26. So far 1,203 Tablig Jamaat workers have been medically screened. 303 of them have symptoms of COVID-19 and were referred to different hospitals in Delhi. Rest of them have been moved to different quarantine centre at Narela, Bakkarwala and Sultanpuri. This process will continue throughout today to move every Tabligh Jamaat worker out of Nizamuddin Markaz," the Home Ministry informed.
