[Tablighi Jamaat] Delhi Court takes cognizance of chargesheet; Malaysian accused move plea bargaining applications

Following the suggestion made by the Delhi High Court, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Saket has marked the plea bargaining applications moved by all Malaysian accused in the Tablighi Jamaat case to a Metropolitan Magistrate for the speedy disposal..The Court also admitted all Malaysian accused on bail after taking cognizance of the chargesheet filed by the Delhi Police against them. .After the outbreak of COVID-19 amongst the participants of the Tablighi Jamaat at Nizamuddin Markaz, Delhi Police had registered FIR against the attendees, organizers and members of the Jamaat..Subsequently, chargesheets were filed against several accused, including 121 Malaysians, for the commission of offences under the Indian Penal Code, Epidemic Diseases Act, Disaster Management Act, Foreigners Act and violating prohibitory orders to contain the spread of COVID-19..Delhi Police informed Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Gurmohina Kaur, that no further investigation was pending against 956 foreigners/accused person that as many as 48 chargesheets and 11 supplementary chargesheets had been placed before the Court, based on a country-wise classification of accused persons' nationality..After persuing the contents of the chargesheet and other requisite documents, the Court took cognizance of the chargesheets and ordered against Malaysians, .There is prima facie sufficient material on record to proceed against the (Malaysian) accused persons u/s 14(b) Foreigners Act, 1946 r/w section 3 of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, r/w section 51 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, r/w section 188/269/270/271 IPC who have been mentioned in column no. 11 of the charge sheet. Accordingly, cognizance of the offences u/s 14(b) Foreigners Act, 1946 r/w section 3 of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, r/w section 51 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, r/w section 188/269/270/271 IPC is hereby taken.Delhi Court.All Malyasian nationals were accordingly summoned to appear before the Court on July 7 via video conferencing..Consequently, all the Malaysian accused persons appeared before the Court on July 7 through video conferencing. They were duly identified by an official from the Malaysian High Commission as well as Investigating Officer..Thereafter, all the Malaysian accused persons were admitted to bail on personal bond of Rs 10,000 each..At this stage, counsel of all the accused persons informed the Court that all accused persons intended to move applications for plea bargaining..Upon recieving the plea bargaining applications on behalf of each of the accused person alongwith the requisite affidavit, the Court directed that the same be placed before the court of Metropolitan Magistrate-05, South East. .The plea bargaining applications moved by all the accused persons in the present chargesheet be marked to Sh. Siddharth Malik, Ld. MM05, SouthEast for 08.07.2020 for disposal as per law. Sh. Siddharth Malik, Ld. MM05, SouthEast is directed to expedite the disposal of the plea bargaining applications moved on behalf of all the accused persons in view of the guidelines given by the Hon'ble High Court of DelhiDelhi Court.The other accused persons against whom cognizance has been taken belong to Afghanistan, Brazil, China, USA, Ukraine, Australia, Egypt, Russia, Algeria, Belgium, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, France, Kazakhisthan, Morocco, Tunisia, UK, Fiji, Sudan, Philippines, Australia, Mali, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Djibouti, Tanzania, South Africa, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Thailand, Nepal, Kyrgyzstan and Indonesia. .Pursuant to the summons, these foreigner accused will continue to appear before the Court in batches through video conferencing from July 8 to July 16..Read the Orders: