Mumbai:The Bombay high court’s Aurangabad bench on Friday struck down criminal cases registered against 34 persons, including 28 foreign members of the Tablighi Jamaat, at three police stations in Ahmednagar district, observing that the foreigners were virtually persecuted.
“A political government tried to find scapegoat when there is pandemic or calamity, and the circumstances show that there is probability that these foreigners were chosen to make them scapegoats,” said the division bench of justice TV Nalawade and justice MG Sewlikar.
The HC also held that foreigners having valid visa to enter India cannot be prevented from visiting masjids, if they go there to observe religious practices or to offer only namaz.
“It is true that in view of wording of Article 19 of the Constitution of India, the freedoms given under this Article are not available to foreigners, a person who is not the citizen of India,” it said. “However, it needs to be kept in mind that when permission is given to the foreigners to come to India under visa, Article 25 (freedom of professing religion) comes in to play. Then Articles 20 and 21 of also available to the foreigners.”
All the foreigners, who petitioned the HC, had participated in Markaz Nizamuddin congregation in Delhi an event that emerged as a hot spot of Covid-19 in the early days of the infection in March. They then gave religious lectures at the mosques in Ahmednagar district, purportedly in breach of lockdown guidelines issued by the local administration.
After attending Markaz event, they fanned out across various places in Ahmednagar district in the last week of March, when, initially, FIRs were registered at three different police stations against the trustees of the mosques where the foreigners were found staying.
All the 34 accused, including the foreigners, moved the HC seeking the quashing of the criminal cases registered against them. They contended that the petitioners, who are foreign nationals, came to India on valid visas. It was argued on their behalf that they came here mainly to experience Indian culture, tradition, hospitality and Indian food.They argued that they were struck in Ahmednagar district after the imposition of the nationwide lockdown on March 25.
The superintendent of police, Ahmednagar, however, maintained that the Tablighi Jamaat members were found visiting places for preaching Islam, and crimes are registered against them. He claimed that they were sent to institutional quarantine, and subsequently, five of the foreign nationals were found infected by the deadly coronavirus.Police further claimed that they had sufficient material to indicate that the accused had committed breaches of prohibitory orders and their visa conditions as well.
The court noted that under the recently updated visa manual, there is no restriction on foreigners for visiting religious places and attending normal religious activities like attending religious discourses, although all tourist visa limit the purposes of the visit to recreation and site seeing.
HC also noted that according to the government record, Tabligh Jamaat is a reform movement and was founded by Maulana Mohammad Iliyas in 1927 at Delhi.“Social and religious tolerance is practical necessity for unity and integrity in India and that is also made compulsory by our Constitution. By hard work over the past years after independence we have reconciled religion and modernity to great extent. This approach helps participation of most in developing process.
We have been respecting both religious and secular sensibilities since independence and by this approach we have kept India as united,” said the bench.
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