The Tablighi Jamaat congregation held in March, attended by over 8000 members from across the world, was then called a super-spreader event of the novel coronavirus
Responding to a petition filed in the Supreme Court seeking action against media reports “spreading hatred” over the Nizamuddin Markaz congregation of Tablighi Jamat, the Centre on Friday defended the media’s right to report facts and freedom of citizens to know affairs of respective sections of the society.
“Attempt to seek a blanket ‘gag order’ against the entire media…will effectively destroy freedom of the citizen to know about the affairs of the respective sections of the society in the nation and the right of the journalist to ensure an informed society,” the Centre said while responding to the plea filed by Jamiat-Ulema-I-Hind.
The Jamiat-Ulema-I-Hind also took exception to reports linking spread of Covid-19 cases to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation at New Delhi’s Nizamuddin Markaz during lockdown and attacks on health workers.
“They are neither per se false nor per se fake…though in isolated cases it may be exaggerated,” the Centre told the court.
The Centre also questioned the credibility of fact check portals whose reports had formed the basis of Jamiat’s petition. “They are unregulated websites and are mostly based on perception, conjecture, surmises, suppositions of the individual writing them,” it said.
“Furthermore, the bonafide of such non-accredit fact checking agencies and extraneous considerations being crept into such fact checking reports cannot also be ruled out,” it further said.
The Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind had on April 6 moved the Supreme Court for directions to the government and media not to “demonize” entire Muslim community over spread of Covid-19 due to Nizamuddin Markaz congregation. The Supreme Court said then said it cannot gag the media and asked the petitioner to make the Press Council of India (PCI) a party in the plea.
The Tablighi Jamaat congregation held in March, attended by over 8000 members from across the world, was then called a super-spreader event of the novel coronavirus. In April, there were reports that Tablighi Jamaat attendees quarantined at a railway facility in southeast Delhi “misbehaved” and “even spit” at doctors and healthcare personnel attending to them.
While police had booked foreign members of the gathering for alleged violations of visa rules, many foreign attendees have now started returning after entering into plea bargains in court.