Court Acquits Foreign Tablighi Jamaat Men Of All Charges

A Delhi court on Tuesday acquitted 36 foreigners in connection with a case related to attending Tablighi Jamaat religious congregation in Nizamuddin Markaz here amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Arun Kumar Garg acquitted the 36 people from 14 different countries of all charges levelled against them.

The 36 foreign nationals were facing charges under Sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Section 3 (disobeying regulation) of Epidemic Act, 1897, and Section 51 (obstruction) Disaster Management Act, 2005.

Around 955 foreign nationals were charge-sheeted by the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police for participating in the Nizamuddin congregation in March this year, which allegedly had become an epicentre of coronavirus spread across the country.

So far, 48 chargesheets and 11 supplementary chargesheets have been filed in the matter. Earlier, trial courts in Delhi allowed hundreds of foreign nationals to walk free on plea bargaining process after they accepted mild charges in connection with the congregation cases. (ANI)