Release Passports of Foreign Tablighi Jamaat Members: Delhi Court

On Saturday, the Saket Court Complex, New Delhi ordered the police to release the passports of 35 foreigners who were acquitted last December in a case in which they were accused of attending the Tablighi Jamaat event at Nizamuddin Markaz, Delhi allegedly being incompetent and disobeying the guidelines released by the government following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Arun Kumar Garg said the court had already acquitted all the foreigners and no appeal/revision to the acquittal order has been filed by the police till date. The court’s directions came after the investigating officer submitted that he had no objection to the release of passports to the foreigners.

Appearing for the foreigners, Advocate Ashima Mandla said that the Look-out Circulars (LOCs) issued against foreigners were closed in February.

Via Mandla and Mandakini Singh, the applications sought the release of the passports that were in police custody. The plea noted that, on 13 January, the Supreme Court ordered the government to facilitate the return of the foreigners acquitted to their respective countries. Also, in December last year, while acquitting the foreigners from 14 countries of all charges, the court pointed out towards prosecution's failure to prove the presence of the accused at the Markaz premises from March 12 to April 1.

The court further said that none of the accused had COVID-19 symptoms as per the list of evacuees, and thus there was no question of any negligent act on their part, that was likely to spread the infection to their knowledge or belief.

After proper verification of their identity, the court ordered the issuance of the original passports to the respective applicants or their counsel in exchange for proper acknowledgement in accordance with the rules.