Tablighi Jamaat & Covid-19; SC adjourns the matter to 31st July

The Supreme Court of India has adjourned the plea filed by foreign nationals who were blacklisted by the Ministry of Home Affairs for participating in the Tablighi Jamaat congregation to July 31st. The plea was filed for restoration of their visas and passports of these foreign nationals which would enable them to return to their countries. The bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar heard the matter and allowed the request made by Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta. The request was made to seek instructions on the viability of whether the foreign nationals who have not pled guilty can be sent back home.

Mehta further informed the court that out of 34 petitioners, 23 had pleaded guilty and a certain fine of approximately Rs. 5000 had been imposed upon them, therefore, they are keen to go back home. Senior Advocate Menaka Guruswamy stated that out of the 25 Petitioners who had accepted the plea bargain, 3 had left, while 22 are facing issues with their passports and visas.

The petitioners, all of whom have been blacklisted, have argued that the decision taken by the Indian Government to blacklist them has led to FIRs being registered against them. Moreover, they have also had to forfeit their passports to the State Administration.

What happened at Tablighi Jamaat?

Tablighi Jamaat is known to be a global evangelical Muslim organisation. It conducted a meeting in Malaysia in February 2020, when travel restrictions due to the outbreak of COVID-19 were not in place in India. The organisation has groups in many parts of the world, including in the various cities in India. The Jamaat has its headquarters in every country it operates in, but its global spiritual centre (Markaz) is in Delhi.

The Indian government stated that more than 8,000 people, including foreigners, visited the headquarters in early March. The congregation became controversial as many people who attended the event were Covid-19 positive. Of about subsequent 4,400 COVID-19 positive cases in India, nearly a third were considered to be risen due to the religious gathering at the Markaz in Nizamuddin in Delhi held on 3rd March 2020. This has held some people to believe that such gatherings were intentional to spread the coronavirus in the country and had been termed this act ‘Corona Jihad’. The Delhi Police confiscated the documents, including passports, of around 700 foreigners who attended the religious event held by Tablighi Jamaat at Nizamuddin.

The Indian government took action by blacklisting around 960 foreign nationals of the group residing in the country for flouting visa norms. The Ministry of Home Affairs had written to all States and Union Territories to ‘identify, screen and quarantine’ foreign members of the organisation.