Tablighi case: court acquits 36 foreigners

A Delhi court on Tuesday acquitted 36 foreigners who were chargesheeted for attending a religious congregation at the Tablighi Jamaat centre in Nizamuddin here in alleged violation of visa norms and government guidelines issued in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Arun Kumar Garg acquitted the foreign nationals from 14 countries of all the charges levelled against them. The 36 foreigners were facing charges under Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), Section 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Section 3 (disobeying regulation) of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 and Section 51 (obstruction) of Disaster Management Act, 2005.

Around 47 chargesheets have been filed until now against over 915 foreign nationals, belonging to 34 different countries, in relation to the religious congregation held at Nizamuddin in March this year.

Earlier, the local courts here had allowed over 120 Malaysians and 11 Saudi Arabians who had participated in the event to walk free after payment of ₹7,000 fine. They had filed a plea seeking lesser sentence under the plea bargaining process by accepting mild charges.

Plea bargaining is a provision under the CrPC in which an accused can negotiate with the prosecution at the pre-trial stage and plead guilty in exchange for certain concessions.