FMT:
India charges tabligh chief with culpable homicide for virus surge
 |
Indian Tabligh leader Muhammad Saad Kandhalvi has been blamed by authorities for a spike in Covid-19 cases |
NEW DELHI: India has brought charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against the chief of a Muslim seminary for holding a gathering last month that authorities say led to a big jump in coronavirus infections, police said today.
The headquarters of the Tablighi Jamaat group in a cramped corner of Delhi were sealed and thousands of followers, including some from Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh, were taken into quarantine after it emerged they had attended meetings there in mid-March.
Police initially filed a case against Muhammad Saad Kandhalvi, the chief of the centre, for violating a ban on big gatherings but had now invoked the law against culpable homicide, a police spokesman said.
“Delhi police had filed a first information report earlier against the Tablighi chief, now Section 304 has been added,” the officer said, referring to culpable homicide in the Penal Code, which carries a maximum punishment of a 10-year prison term.
A spokesman for the Tablighi Jamaat group, Mujeeb-ur Rehman, declined to comment saying they had not confirmed reports about the new charges.
The Tablighi is one of the world’s biggest Sunni Muslim proselytising organisations with followers in more than 80 countries, promoting a pure form of Islam.
Authorities said at the beginning of the month that a third of the nearly 3,000 coronavirus cases at that time were either people who attended the Tablighi gathering or those who were later exposed to them.
India’s tally of coronavirus infections has since jumped to 12,380, including 414 deaths, as of today.
In the coronavirus hot spot of Delhi, 1,080 of its 1,561 cases were linked to the group’s gathering, according to the city government data yesterday.
The Tablighi administrators earlier said many of the followers who had visited its offices in a narrow, winding lane in Delhi’s historic Nizamuddin quarter were stranded after the government declared a three-week lockdown, and the centre had to offer them shelter.
Critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government have cautioned against fanning communal tension by laying the blame for the spread of the coronavirus on the Muslim group.
Officials have rejected suggestions they were unfairly targeting the Muslim community, but said they had to rebuke the group because it had behaved irresponsibly by ignoring social distancing rules.
The Tablighi was also linked to a surge of cases in neighbouring Pakistan where it cancelled a similar gathering, but only at the last minute when thousands had already arrived at a premises in the city of Lahore.
A gathering organised by the group in Malaysia also led to a surge of cases there and in several other Southeast Asian countries.
Pakistan has recorded 6,505 cases according to its latest data, a jump of 520 over the previous day. About 60% of Pakistan’s cases load was linked to the Tablighi or were people who had gone on religious pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia and Iran, officials said.
The headquarters of the Tablighi Jamaat group in a cramped corner of Delhi were sealed and thousands of followers, including some from Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh, were taken into quarantine after it emerged they had attended meetings there in mid-March.
Police initially filed a case against Muhammad Saad Kandhalvi, the chief of the centre, for violating a ban on big gatherings but had now invoked the law against culpable homicide, a police spokesman said.
“Delhi police had filed a first information report earlier against the Tablighi chief, now Section 304 has been added,” the officer said, referring to culpable homicide in the Penal Code, which carries a maximum punishment of a 10-year prison term.
A spokesman for the Tablighi Jamaat group, Mujeeb-ur Rehman, declined to comment saying they had not confirmed reports about the new charges.
The Tablighi is one of the world’s biggest Sunni Muslim proselytising organisations with followers in more than 80 countries, promoting a pure form of Islam.
Authorities said at the beginning of the month that a third of the nearly 3,000 coronavirus cases at that time were either people who attended the Tablighi gathering or those who were later exposed to them.
India’s tally of coronavirus infections has since jumped to 12,380, including 414 deaths, as of today.
In the coronavirus hot spot of Delhi, 1,080 of its 1,561 cases were linked to the group’s gathering, according to the city government data yesterday.
The Tablighi administrators earlier said many of the followers who had visited its offices in a narrow, winding lane in Delhi’s historic Nizamuddin quarter were stranded after the government declared a three-week lockdown, and the centre had to offer them shelter.
Critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government have cautioned against fanning communal tension by laying the blame for the spread of the coronavirus on the Muslim group.
Officials have rejected suggestions they were unfairly targeting the Muslim community, but said they had to rebuke the group because it had behaved irresponsibly by ignoring social distancing rules.
The Tablighi was also linked to a surge of cases in neighbouring Pakistan where it cancelled a similar gathering, but only at the last minute when thousands had already arrived at a premises in the city of Lahore.
A gathering organised by the group in Malaysia also led to a surge of cases there and in several other Southeast Asian countries.
Pakistan has recorded 6,505 cases according to its latest data, a jump of 520 over the previous day. About 60% of Pakistan’s cases load was linked to the Tablighi or were people who had gone on religious pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia and Iran, officials said.
the india authority learn this trick from trump.
ReplyDeleteIf this report is true then this group should be banned in Malaysia. Their followers are like suicide time-bombs.....
ReplyDeleteQUOTE
It’s time to stay in mosques, Allah will save us: Tablighi Jamaat chief told followers in leaked audio
In a leaked audio clip, Tablighi Jamaat chief Maulana Saad can reportedly be heard instructing followers to not abide by government/medical guidelines with regards to the coronavirus outbreak.
Munish Chandra Pandey Arvind Ojha
New Delhi April 1, 2020
Audio clip is in possession of India Today TV
Maulana Mohammad Saad Kandhalvi can be heard instructing followers
He is instructing to not abide by medical guidelines with regards to coronavirus outbreak.
The Delhi Police has started its investigation into the audio clipping of a speech purportedly given by Maulana Mohammad Saad Kandhalvi, the head of Nizamuddin Markaz (centre) of the Tablighi Jamaat. In the audio, he can reportedly be heard instructing followers to not abide by government/medical guidelines with regards to the coronavirus outbreak.
Maulana Saad, who has been named as an accused of holding a public gathering in contravention of government guidelines, is reportedly not traceable. The audio clip is in possession of India Today TV in which Maulana Mohammad Saad can be heard saying, "If you think you will die if you assemble in a masjid, let me tell you, there is no better place to die.
It is assumed that thousands of people were inside the Nizamuddin Markaz of the Tablighi Jamaat when this speech was delivered. Saad further can be heard saying, This is not the time when you leave your prayers or meeting people just because doctors are saying. When Allah has given this disease, then no doctor or medicine can save us.
The Delhi Government and Delhi Police have now instructed the Markaz authorities to vacate the premises. The Nizamuddin Markaz had informed the police on March 24 that they are following the instructions and guidelines of government as far as Covid-19 is concerned. In the audio, the chief of the Tablighi Jamaat seems to be saying otherwise.
Saad further tells the gathering, This is the time when mosques should be populated. I feel pity for those who are saying that this is a time when people should not go or stay in mosques. This is not the time when we scatter and leave mosques. If we gather inside mosques then Allah will create peace in the world.
The government has identified 824 foreign nationals who visited the Nizamuddin Markaz. So far, 2,361 people have been evacuated from the site. Over 97 attendees or their contacts have tested positive for Covid-19 across the country and 606 have shown symptoms of coronavirus.
India Today TV cannot independently confirm the authenticity of the audio clip.
Maulana Muhammad Saad Kandhlavi, a 54-year-old, is an Indian Muslim scholar and a preacher. He is the great-grandson of the Tablighi Jamat founder Muhammad Ilyas Kandhlavi.
UNQUOTE