The Union Home Ministry on Monday, 21 September, said the Tablighi Jamaat gathering in Delhi’s Nizamuddin locality in March led to the coronavirus infection spreading to “many persons.”
In his written reply in the Rajya Sabha, MoS Kishen Reddy said that the Delhi Police held 233 members of the Jamaat and 2,361 people have been evacuated from the headquarters in the capital since 29 March. He also added that the investigation into the matter is underway, reported PTI.
“This also caused the spread of coronavirus infection amongst many persons,” the minister said, the news agency reported.
The Home Ministry was responding to a question from Shiv Sena MP Anil Desai on whether the spread of the coronavirus was due to the assembly of people for the gathering.
“As reported by Delhi Police, despite guidelines/orders issued by various authorities in pursuance of the outbreak of COVID-19 a huge gathering assembled inside a closed premise; over a protracted period of time, without any semblance of social distancing or provision of masks and sanitizers. This also caused spread of coronavirus infection amongst many persons,” Reddy said, reported PTI.
Earlier in August, quashing the FIRs filed against 29 foreign Tablighi Jamaat members, the Bombay High Court, in a strongly-worded judgment, said that they may have been used as "scapegoats."
The foreign nationals were booked under various provisions of IPC for violating their tourist visa conditions by attending the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Nizamuddin area of New Delhi.
Along with these nationals, police also booked six Indian nationals and trustees of the mosques for giving shelter to the petitioners.
(With inputs from PTI)
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