Allegedly Destroyed COVID-19 Warnings, Case Filled Against Islamic Sect Chief

Allegedly Destroyed COVID-19 Warnings, Case Filled Against Islamic Sect Chief

New Delhi: Tablighi Jamaat has emerged as one of the country's top coronavirus hotspots after a religious gathering in Delhi at its headquarters, its chief cleric Maulana Saad and six others have been charged by the police. 

Members of Tablighi Jamaat in thousands including those from other countries, attended the gathering at Mosque in March, Defying all coronavirus warnings and precautions given by the Government. Many after the event traveled to different states which widening the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus.

In the past three days over 2,000 members have been removed from the Markaz Nizamuddin, the Tablighi headquarters. Sources say that Maulana Saad is missing, he was last seen on Saturday when COVID-19 cases started surfacing related to the event.

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Apart from Maulana Saad, Delhi Police's First Information Report (F.I.R.)names Zeeshan, Mufti Shehzad, M Saifi, Younus, Mohammad Salman, and Mohammed Ashraf. They are charged under the Epidemic Disease Act, said Delhi Police Commissioner SN Shrivastava.

The FIR states that these seven were responsible for the gathering and they allowed visitors to continue living in the building despite notice issued to them on March 24, the day the nation went into a total lockdown for 21 days to fight the spread of deadly coronavirus.

The Delhi Police Crime Branch is examining an audio recording of a sermon posted on a "Delhi Markaj" YouTube channel, in which the speaker says that there is no need to follow the measure of social distancing advised by the government. The speaker terms the coronavirus warnings as a "conspiracy to keep Muslims away from fellow Muslims".

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"Where will you run from death? Death is in front of you... This is an occasion to seek penance from God. Not an occasion where one comes under the influence of doctors and stops Namaaz, meeting each other... Yes, there is a virus. But 70,000 angels are with me and if they can't save me, who will? This is the time for more such gatherings, not the time to avoid each other... Who says if we meet then disease will spread? The disease will pass, but eating from the same plate, it will benefit us... This is a plan to end amity between Muslims, to alienate them from each other," says the speaker, which, some reports say, is Maulana Saad.

Across the country, 128 people with novel coronavirus are traced to the gathering so far with more cases are feared.

The police and Delhi government say the sect was warned about the gathering and had been asked to vacate Markaz Nizamuddin because of coronavirus scare.

But the organizers of the Tablighi gathering told the police, after being issued notice to vacate, that "people came before the lockdown was imposed, and the PM (Narendra Modi) in his speech said jo jahaan hai wahi rahe (all must stay wherever they are)".

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