New Delhi, Jul 18 (PTI) The Delhi High Court has dropped charges against 70 Indian nationals accused of housing foreign attendees of Tablighi Jamaat congregation in March 2020 allegedly in violation of COVID-19 norms pointing out no evidence to prove they participated in any prohibited activity.
Justice Neena Bansal Krishna said there was “not a whisper” either in the FIRs or the chargesheets about the petitioners being found COVID-19 positive or moving negligently or unlawfully with intent or knowledge to spread the disease of COVID-19.
“There is not a whisper in the entire chargesheet that any of these petitioners were found COVID-19 positive or that they had stepped out of the Markaz after March 24, 2020 or that they were likely to spread COVID-19,” the court said.
Justice Krishna discharged the petitioners on July 17 but the detailed order was made available on Friday.
Continuation of these chargesheets against the petitioners would tantamount to abuse of the process and is also not in the interest of justice, it said.
“The chargesheets and proceedings emanating therefrom, are hereby quashed and petitioners are discharged,” the court held.
The 70 persons were accused of violating norms by housing foreign Tablighi Jamaat (Sunni religious movement) members during COVID-19, when prohibitory orders were imposed.
The verdict noted the cognisance of the offence under Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) IPC was bad as no prima facie case was made against the petitioners.
The petitioners were found to have undergone COVID-19 test during their period of quarantine from April 3, 2020, onward and their test reports came out negative and they were kept in isolation under a doctor’s supervision, the court noted.
“No material on record to prove that they had indulged in any act which was likely to spread infection of COVID-19. No material was produced in the chargesheet and no evidence was placed on record to substantiate the fulfilment of ingredients of Sections 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) and 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) of IPC,” the verdict held.
The verdict came on 16 petitions of the 70 Indian nationals represented by advocate Ashima Mandla.
Delhi Police had opposed the pleas for quashing of FIRs registered for hosting foreign attendees of the congregation of March 2020 and said the accused local residents sheltered the attendees who had come to Nizamuddin Markaz (meeting point) in violation of the prohibitory orders on movement to contain the spread of COVID-19.
The foreign nationals, named in some of the FIRs, either pleaded guilty to go back to their country or were discharged or acquitted in the case.
The petitioners contended there was no documentation on record in either the FIR or charge sheet to indicate that they had been infected by COVID-19 and therefore, they could not have been accused of spreading the disease under the Epidemic Diseases Act.
The court found “nothing on record” to show the petitioners congregated after the promulgation of the notification under Section 144 (power to issue order in urgent cases of nuisance or apprehended danger) of CrPC.
It said the petitioners were already present in the Markaz and after the imposition of the complete lockdown, there was no way possible for them to have dispersed.
Rather stepping out of the houses would have been violation of the complete lockdown and also of the potential of spreading of commutable disease of COVID-19, the verdict said.
“The question of human rights arose whereby their movement was curtailed on account of the pandemic and they were compelled to remain in the Markaz, where they had already congregated since prior to the declaration of lockdown. The congregation had not been subsequent to the notification under Section 144 CrPC. They were helpless people, who got confined on account of lockdown,” the judgment read.
Merely living in a Markaz, the court said, did not amount to violation of any of the activities prescribed by the notification.
They had assembled neither for any demonstration nor for any social, cultural, political, religious gatherings, organising weekly markets, or group tours, the court said.
The court found no such activity after the notification.
The notification itself restricted the people suspected or confirmed with COVID-19 pandemic, to take home or institutional quarantine and render assistance or comply with the directions of the surveillance personnel, it said.
The court found no violation of legal provisions, including the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 and the Disaster Management Act, 2005. “All the cases that were registered during the COVID-19 period, under the aforesaid sections before various courts across the country have ended either in acquittal or discharge of the accused persons, against whom these FIRs and chargesheets were filed,” the court said. PTI SKV SKV AMK AMK
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