FIRs against 13 Tablighi Jamaat members for defying lockdown

Ahmedabad — The Gujarat police have lodged two separate FIRs against 13 members of the Tablighi Jamaat for allegedly violating lockdown imposed over a month ago to contain the coronavirus spread, the DGP said on Tuesday.

In both the cases, Tablighi Jamaat members had entered Bharuch district from other parts of Gujarat in private buses secretly in violation of the lockdown norms, said Director General of Police (DGP) Shivanand Jha.

While one complaint against half a dozen members was lodged with the Palej police of Bharuch district, the other, against seven men of the Delhi-headquartered Islamic group, was filed at the Amod police station of the same district on Monday, he said.

"Before the lockdown was imposed (on March 25), some members of the Tablighi Jamaat went to Bhavnagar from Bharuch through Ro-Ro ferry service on March 17. Later, six of them recently came back to a village in Bharuch in a private bus. When it came to our notice, we lodged an FIR against them at the Palej police station for violating the lockdown," Jha said in a video message.

Similarly, seven members of the Islamic sect defied the police notification banning the movement of people and vehicles during the lockdown and entered Bharuch in a bus from another district recently, said the DGP.

On learning about their arrival in the district, a case was lodged against them at the Amod police station, Jha added.