Stuck because of lockdown: Here's why Delhi High Court quashed cases against Tablighi Jamaat attendees

The Delhi High Court on Thursday ruled that there is no evidence to show that the members of Tablighi Jamaat congregated in Delhi during the first wave of Covid-19 pandemic in violation of lockdown protocol or any other order [Mohd Anwar v State of NCT of Delhi]. .Justice Neena Bansal Krishna noted that the congregation was planned before Covid was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The members of the congregation were helpless people who got confined to the Nizamuddin Markaz (headquarters of Tablighi Jamaat) because of the lockdown, the Court said. “Firstly and foremost, there is nothing on record to show that they had congregated after the promulgation of the Notification under Section 144 Cr.P.C. These Petitioners were already present in the Markaz and after the imposition of the complete lockdown, there was no way possible for them to have dispersed; rather their stepping out of the houses would have been a violation of the complete lockdown and also of the potential of spreading of communicable disease of COVID-19,” the Court said. .The news of Tablighi Jamaat members staying in Delhi’s Nizamuddin Markaz had hit the headlines in March 2020 when the first nationwide lockdown was declared. The Delhi Police filed FIRs against hundreds of Indian and foreign attendees of Tablighi Jamaat for allegedly violating the lockdown and orders prohibiting the assembly of people. They were booked under provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Epidemic Diseases Act, the Disaster Management Act and the Foreigners Act.Sixteen such FIRs filed against 70 Indian nationals were challenged before the High Court. The High Court quashed all the cases and the chargesheets filed in the trial court. .Justice Krishna observed that Delhi Police merely made bald assertions that it had issued a notification under Section 144 of the CrPC, prohibiting gatherings, but no evidence was shown proving that the Jamaat members knew about such an order. “It is also significant to note that merely because they were living in a Markaz, did not amount to violation of any of the five activities, which were prescribed by the Notification under Section 144 CrPC. They had assembled neither for any demonstration nor for any social, cultural, political, religious gatherings, organising weekly markets, or group tours. The Petitioners had done no activity of this kind after Notification under Section 144 CrPC.”The Court further said that just because people were staying in the Markaz, it does not mean that they were violating the government’s orders..Advocates Ashima Mandla and Mandakini Singh appeared for the petitioners in the case.Delhi Police was represented by Additional Standing Counsel (ASC) Amol Sinha as well as advocates Kshitiz Garg, Nitish Dhawan, Rahul Kochar, Chavi Lazarus and Sanskriti Nimbekar..[Read Judgment]