Tag: delhi high court orders

COVID-19: Delhi HC Allows 50 People to Offers Prayers at Nizamuddin Markaz During Ramzan

The court refused to increase the number of people or allow use of other floors of the mosque for offering prayers.

New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Thursday, April 15, allowed 50 people to offer namaz five times a day at the Nizamuddin Markaz mosque during Ramzan.

Justice Prathiba M. Singh directed the Station House Officer of Nizamuddin police station to permit entry of 50 people five times a day to offer namaz only on the first floor of the Masjid Bangley Wali.

The court declined to increase the number of people or allow use of other floors of the mosque for offering prayers as sought by senior advocate Ramesh Gupta on behalf of the Delhi Waqf Board, but allowed them to move an application before the SHO for the same.

The court said the SHO may decide any such application moved by the Board in accordance with the law.

Also read: ‘Maa Ganga’s Blessings in Flow, There Should Be No Corona’: Uttarakhand CM on Kumbh Vs Markaz

It also said that its order would be subject to any notification issued by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) in view of the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the national capital, which recorded the biggest single-day jump of 17,282 COVID-19 cases.

On April 12, the Delhi high court had observed that there cannot be a limit on the number of devotees allowed inside the Nizamuddin Markaz if no other religious place has a similar restriction in light of the COVID-19 surge.

Justice Mukta Gupta had allowed the mosque to remain open for prayers, rejecting the Centre and Delhi Police’s submission that a cap be enforced.

The Markaz was at the centre of pitched criticism in March 2020, after members who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat event tested positive for COVID-19. Hundreds, including attendees from Indonesia, Bangladesh and Malaysia, were taken into quarantine for months. In many states, they were sent straight to jail. Some are still awaiting trial, The Wire had recently reported.

Meanwhile, the Bombay high court, on April 14, rejected the Juma Masjid Trust’s plea to allow 50 devotees to offer prayers at a time during Ramzan.

Religious gatherings at a time of escalating case counts have proven to worsen the COVID-19 situation, as is evident from the fact that over 1,700 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the Haridwar Kumbh Mela area from April 10 to 14, confirming fears that one of the world’s largest religious gatherings may contribute further to the rapid rise in coronavirus cases.

(With PTI inputs)

‘Nizamuddin Markaz Can’t Have Devotee Cap If No Other Religious Place Does’: Delhi HC

Justice Mukta Gupta has allowed the mosque to remain open for prayers, rejecting the Centre and Delhi Police’s submission that a cap be enforced.

New Delhi: The Delhi high court has observed that there cannot be a limit on the number of devotees allowed inside the Nizamuddin Markaz if no other religious place has a similar restriction in light of the COVID-19 surge, Indian Express has reported.

Justice Mukta Gupta has allowed the mosque to remain open for prayers, rejecting the Centre and Delhi Police’s submission that a cap be enforced. The order comes on a day when news of thousands of devotees crowding the Kumbh Mela in Uttarakhand has raised questions on negligence, even as India is faced with a significant surge in COVID-19 numbers.

In reply to the Centre and Delhi Police’s request that only 20 devotees be allowed at a time out of a “police-verified list of 200 persons,” Justice Gupta said that the mosque does not need to have a fixed number of devotees when no other place of religious worship does.

The Delhi Waqf Board had told the court that it would be difficult to draw up such a list and instead promised to follow all protocol.

“A 200-people list is not acceptable, that cannot be,” the court said, according to Express. Justice Gupta suggested that a list of people in charge of managing the mosque can be handed to the local station house officer.

Also read: Uttarakhand CM Just Doesn’t Get It When He Says We Shouldn’t Compare Kumbh to Markaz

“By virtue of these notifications, which have been issued recently, for religious places, have you curtailed the gathering to 20 at a time? What is the maximum number which you have given for each of the religious places,” the court also asked the Centre’s counsel Rajat Nair, to which the latter said that there was no limit.

The court reportedly ordered the local SHO to oversee the inspection of the mosque so as to determine the number of people who can offer prayers in accordance with social distancing rules and Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) guidelines.

The court also asked authorities to designate where prayer mats can be placed and listed the matter to be heard on Tuesday, April 13.

The Markaz was at the centre of pitched criticism in March 2020, after members who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat event tested positive for COVID-19. Hundreds, including attendees from Indonesia, Bangladesh and Malaysia, were taken into quarantine for months. In many states, they were sent straight to jail. Some are still awaiting trial, The Wire had recently reported.

Watch | Tablighi Jamaat: A Year on, Some Attendees Still Await Trial, Others Struggle to Return Home

Since March 2020, the building has been under lock and key. The Markaz building was opened for Shab-e-Barat prayers in late March 2021, with a cap on 50 people.

When Nair brought up the matter of the Nizamuddin Markaz being “case property”, Justice Gupta observed that nobody was going to remove the building and police was free to conduct investigations.

Express has reported that the Delhi Waqf Board had earlier approached the court saying that the Masjid Bangley Wali, Madarsa Kashif-ul-uloom and the attached hostel situated at Basti Hazrat Nizamuddin have been locked for a year as well, and as a result not only has the public been stopped from entering the premises to access the mosque, but students too have not been allowed to continue with their studies and the clerics’ hostel too has remained empty.

“It has also been mentioned in the petition that police have put locks on the entire premises ostensibly in connection with an FIR registered by the police on March 31 last year on the premise that Maulana Mohd Saad and Markaz management allegedly deliberately and negligently violated the government directions and guidelines, but no formal seal has been put on the premises,” the report noted.

Nizamuddin Markaz Reopens for Prayers With a Cap on Visitors

Last Wednesday, the Centre informed the Delhi high court that selected individuals would be permitted to offer prayers at the mosque after their names were provided to the SHO of the local police station.

New Delhi: The Nizamuddin Markaz building was opened for Shab-e-Barat prayers on Sunday, nearly a year after it was shut down, with the number of permitted visitors capped at 50, reported the Indian Express.

The Nizamuddin Markaz, a mosque in South Delhi, had been sealed in mid-March and hundreds of followers who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat event, including some from Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh, were taken into quarantine for months. In Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and other states, they were sent straight to jail.

The locality was subsequently declared a COVID-19 hotspot and charged many of the attendees under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Epidemic Diseases Act and the National Disaster Management Act and Foreigners Act for defying government restrictions.

Last Wednesday, the Centre informed the Delhi high court that 50 people chosen by the state wakf board would be permitted to offer prayers at the mosque on the occasion of Shab-e-Barat after the names of the selected individuals were provided to the station house officer of the local police station.

Speaking to the national daily about the reopening of the mosque, a Tablighi Jamaat member, who visited the markaz on Sunday, said, “It is good that it has been opened but more people should have been allowed. We are happy to obey rules but there should be stricter implementation in gatherings across India during elections, where social distancing is being ignored.”

He also lamented the treatment members of the Jamaat were subjected to by the government and media. “The media declared us human bombs when the fact was that people here were trapped like at many other places across the world due to sudden lockdown.”

Watch | Tablighi Jamaat: A Year on, Some Attendees Still Await Trial, Others Struggle to Return Home

At 8 pm on Sunday, the police ordered the ordered closure of shops in the market surrounding the markaz. Some locals asked police officials to let them enter but were turned back. “This is festival time and Covid is spreading fast. We cannot allow many people to gather,” said an officer.

A volunteer at the Markaz pointed out that the building had a capacity to accommodate thousands and hence social distancing norms were maintained inside the premises. “Fifty people have been allowed as of now… Government guidelines are being strictly followed. We hope that just like other places, be it a masjid, mandir or a gurdwara, where visitors have been allowed, people are allowed here too,” he said,

In its plea before the high court, the Wakf Board had contended that even after Unlock-1 guidelines permitted religious places outside containment zones to be opened, the Markaz – comprising of the Masjid Bangley Wali, Madarsa Kashif-ul-uloom and a hostel – was still locked up. The Centre’s permission for 50 visitors came after the Waqf Board urged the court to permit some individuals to pray at the mosque for Shab-e-Barat and said that only the mosque would be used and not the madrasa.

Nizamuddin Markaz: 60 Malaysians Walk Free, Fined Rs 7,000 by Delhi HC

They were granted bail on July 7 on furnishing a bail bond of Rs 10,000 each.

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Thursday allowed 60 Malaysians to walk free on payment of fine of Rs 7,000 each after they accepted mild charges, under the plea bargain process, related to various violations including visa norms while attending Nizamuddin markaz during the COVID-19 lockdown, a lawyer said.

Metropolitan magistrate Siddharth Malik passed the order after the Malaysians sought lesser punishment under the plea bargain process by accepting mild charges, said their lawyer.

They were allowed to walk free after the sub-divisional magistrate of Lajpat Nagar, who was the complainant in the case, additional commissioner of police of Lajpat Nagar and inspector of Nizamuddin proclaimed they have no objection to their pleas, said advocate S. Hariharan, appearing for the foreign nationals.

Under plea bargaining, the accused plead guilty to the offence praying for a lesser punishment. The Criminal Procedure of Code allows plea bargaining for cases where the maximum punishment is imprisonment for seven years, where offences don’t affect the socio-economic conditions of society and are not committed against a woman or a child below 14 years.

They were granted bail on July 7 on furnishing a bail bond of Rs 10,000 each.

They were charge-sheeted for attending markaz at Nizamuddin in the national capital by allegedly violating visa conditions, indulging in missionary activities illegally and violating government guidelines, issued in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak in the country.

Nizamuddin Markaz: Delhi Court Grants Bail to Foreigners From 21 Countries

Chief metropolitan magistrate Gurmohina Kaur granted relief to the foreigners on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 10,000 each.

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Wednesday granted bail to foreign nationals from 21 countries who were charge-sheeted for attending the Nizamuddin Markaz by allegedly violating visa conditions, indulging in missionary activities illegally and violating government guidelines following the COVID-19 outbreak.

Chief metropolitan magistrate Gurmohina Kaur granted relief to the foreigners on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 10,000 each.

The accused will file their plea bargaining applications on Thursday, said advocate Ashima Mandla, appearing for some of the foreign nationals.

Also read: Tamil Nadu Has Created a Detention Camp Just to Hold 129 Foreign Tablighi Jamaat Members

Plea bargaining means an accused pleads guilty to the offence and prays for a lesser punishment.

During the hearing, all the foreign nationals, who were staying at a hotel, were produced before the court through video conferencing.

Also read: COVID-19 in India: It’s Time to Leave the Tablighi Jamaat Incident Behind Us

They were identified by the concerned official of the High Commission of the respective countries as well as the investigating officer.

The foreigners belonged to Afghanistan, Brazil, China, USA, Ukraine, Australia, Egypt, Russia, Algeria, Belgium, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, France, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Tunisia, UK, Fiji, Sudan, Philippines and Ethiopia.