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FIRs against Tablighi Jamaat members for indecent acts in hospitals, ‘aiding’ spread of COVID-19

India witnessed a surge in the number of cases last week after more than 1,000 people linked to the controversial Delhi mosque event tested positive.

FIRs against Tablighi Jamaat members for indecent acts in hospitals, ‘aiding’ spread of COVID-19

Nizamuddin Markaz attendees walk to board a special service bus taking them to a quarantine facility amid concerns about the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus in Nizamuddin area of New Delhi. (File Photo: AFP)

A string of First Information Reports (FIR) have continued to be filed against Tablighi Jamaat members across the country ranging from violating quarantine orders to indecent behaviour in hospitals.

India witnessed a surge in the number of cases last week after more than 1,000 people linked to the controversial Delhi mosque event tested positive. At least 17 states have reported COVID-19 cases linked to the gathering.

In one such latest shocking cases, an FIR has been registered against two people, who attended the Nizamuddin Markaz event last month and are currently at the quarantine center in Narela in North Delhi.

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The complaint dated April 4 read the sanitation staff for cleaning had reported that some persons had “defecated in front of a room”. It further said that two people in the room, involved in the above mentioned act, have not been following the instruction of the health department or the government and “helping the spread of novel Coronavirus, putting the life of people at risk and jeopardizing the entire containment measure”.

In another incident, officials at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan hospital in central Delhi complained that some COVID-19 suspected patients were spitting in the premises.

“It was reported that some COVID-19 suspected persons who have been quarantined on the third floor of the hospital’s Emergency building were spitting on the southern side towards the operation theatre,” a senior LNJP doctor said.

The Delhi Police has also registered an FIR in this case.

Meanwhile, a case has been registered against 27 men, who were brought to Firozabad district hospital on April 4 for collection of samples after they came in contact with Tablighi Jamaat returnees, for allegedly spitting on the hospital walls and offering prayers in the hospital premises.

16 Tablighi Jamaat members were booked on Monday in Chhattisgarh’s Korba for allegedly hiding travel history, misleading authorities and putting lives of others at risk. One among them had tested positive for COVID-19 and is undergoing treatment at AIIMS Raipur, Korba SP Abhishek Meena was quoted as saying by ANI.

In Mumbai, an FIR has been registered against 150 people of Tablighi Jamaat, at Azad Maidan police station for violating quarantine orders (IPC Sec 271) and government official preventive order (IPC Sec 188). Another FIR has also been registered under IPC Sec 269, besides the earlier two sections.

On April 3, the Yogi Adityanath government had booked a few quarantined Tablighi Jamaat members, who misbehaved with the female nursing staff in a hospital in Ghaziabad, under the National Security Act (NSA).

It is learnt that it has also been decided that female nurses and female police women will not be deployed where the Tablighi Jamaat members have been quarantined.

The Chief Medical Officer of the MMG Hospital in Ghaziabad had written a letter to the Ghaziabad police informing about the ‘criminal behavior of the Jamaatis’.

The CMO, in his letter, stated that the members of the Tablighi Jamaat who are kept at the isolation ward of the hospital, have been roaming in their wards naked. The letter stated that obscene comments and songs were being heard from the ward, and inmates were asking for beedi-cigarette from the staff of the hospital. The CMO also wrote that these people have also been making lewd gestures towards female employees of the hospital.

Thirty per cent of the total confirmed cases of Coronavirus in the country have been linked to the Tablighi Jamaat meeting, which was attended by over 2000 foreigners and hundreds of Indian preachers.

Meanwhile, amid the posting of hate content on the social media against the Muslims after the Tablighi Markaz fiasco, a conglomeration of community bodies on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to act to stop hate-mongering on these platforms.

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