The Delhi High Court Friday asked the Delhi Police which notification or order was violated by the people attending the Tabhligi Jamaat while staying at Nizamuddin Markaz (Majid Miyan and Ors v. State of Delhi and Ors)..Justice Mukta Gupta asked the question while hearing a batch of pleas filed by Tabhligi Jamaat attendees who were booked in March 2020 during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Court asked,“When the lockdown was imposed no one could go out of the house. There was no question of changing the place at the time… In light of these facts tell me where the violation is.".Advocate Ashima Mandla appearing for the petitioners, also informed the Court that the FIR said that these people were only residing there, but did not say that there was any religious congregation. “The allegations are that I am being negligent and spreading the disease but for that there has to be an allegation that I am Covid positive when no such fact is there, how does spreading of disease come into place?” Mandla submitted.She pointed out three peculiar FIRs in which private people were accused just for housing the Tablighi Jamaat members.“As per Jamaat, women are not allowed to live in Markaz so women even from foreign countries come and stay at private houses. Now even the owners of the private houses have been accused,” she said..The Court was also informed that though a status report had been sought from the police nearly five months back, it is yet to be filed. Justice Gupta has now given the police a final opportunity to file the reports in each of the cases and listed the case for further hearing on December 6.
