Delhi govt asks DMs to release 2,446 Tablighi Jamaat members

The Delhi government on Saturday asked district magistrates to release over 2,000 Tablighi Jamaat members from quarantine centres and ensure that they do not stay in any other places except their homes. It will also facilitate ferrying of Markaz attendees from other states to their native places.

As for the 567 foreign attendees of the congregation held in Delhi's Nizamuddin area in March, they will be handed over to the police, DDMA Special CEO K S Meena said in a letter to deputy commissioners (administration). "They (foreign Jamaat attendees) will be handed over to police in connection with several violations like visa violation," a government official said.

The district magistrates will explore the possibility of sending those Tablighi members, who belong to other states, in buses to their designated places in accordance with social-distancing norms and other protocols, Meena said.

The Delhi government asked district magistrates to release 2,446 Tablighi Jamaat members from quarantine centres. The move comes days after Delhi Home Minister Satyendar Jain ordered the release of Tablighi members who have completed their required quarantine period in centres and tested negative for COVID-19.

"Out of such people belonging to Delhi, who could be released as per prescribed guidelines should be issued passes to travel from the quarantine centres. "Under no circumstances, the aforesaid persons should be allowed to stay in any other places including mosques," Meena said in the letter.

In respect of those Tablighi members belonging to other states, it should be ensured by the nodal officer and the area ACP that such people reach their place of residence, he also said. "The DC should also inform the respective resident commissioner of their states in respect of each and every movement of such persons from Delhi," the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) Special CEO said.

Thousands of Tablighi Jamaat members had been taken out of its Markaz (centre) in Nizamuddin, where they had gathered for a religious congregation, and quarantined as the area became a major hotspot after a number of members tested positive for coronavirus.

On March 31, the Delhi Police's Crime Branch had lodged an FIR against seven people, including Maulana Saad Kandhalvi, on a complaint by Station House Officer, Nizamuddin, for holding the congregation here allegedly in violation of the orders against large gathering and for not maintaining social distancing to contain the spread of coronavirus. The members also received flak after there were complaints of misbehaviour by some of them with health workers. There were allegations that Muslims were targeted and blamed for the spread of the pandemic by some after a number of coronavirus cases were found linked to the Tablighi event.

In a letter last month, Delhi Minorities Commission had demanded that Tablighi Jamaat members who are kept at quarantine centres in the city and have not tested positive for coronavirus be released, as they have completed twice the stipulated quarantine period of 14 days as COVID-19 suspects. In the letter to Jain, commission chairman Zafarul Islam Khan and member Kartar Singh Kochhar had also claimed that facilities for food and medicines at these camps were poor.