The Chief Justice of India, NV Ramana has made some strong remarks against news portals and media channels on a petition filed by Jamiat Ulama I Hind and the Peace Party linked to the Tablighi Jamaat gathering last year in New Delhi that was blamed for the spike in Covid-19 infection.

Bar & Bench quoted the CJI saying, “There is an attempt to give communal colour to news and that is the problem. it ultimately brings a bad name to country….I have not come across any public channel, Twitter, Facebook or Youtube .. they never respond to us and there is no accountability, about the institutions they have written badly about and they don’t respond and say this is their right.”

The CJI also expressed his dissatisfaction when the Solicitor General, Tushar Mehta asked for more time to file some applications in this regard. “The case docket shows you have taken four adjournments to file an affidavit Mr Mehta,” CJI Ramana reportedly said. He also expressed his concern over not having a regulatory mechanism set up by the government to monitor web portals.

“Is the regulatory commission appointed? You (government) had said it will be appointed last time,” he reportedly said according to Bar & Bench, adding, “If you go to YouTube you can see how much fake news is there…web portals are not governed by anything. For press and TV, there are regulatory mechanisms!”

The Bench, also consisting of Justice Surya Kant said, “Web portals only listen to powerful voices and write anything against judges, institutions without any accountability. Web portals only worry about powerful men and not judges, institutions or common people. That is our experience.”

The SG tried to explain the issue to the Bench by stating that the new Information Technology rules, 2021 are intended to address these issues. Tushar Mehta added that the IT Rules have been challenged before various High Courts and the Central Government has filed a petition to transfer all of them to the Supreme Court. The court has agreed to list the central government’s transfer petitions on IT Rules along with the present batch of petitions and the matter will come up for hearing after 6 weeks.

Last year, when the Centre had filed an affidavit in this matter, the Supreme Court had pulled up the government that defended the media by saying that the petitioner had not listed any instance of “bad reporting”. The then CJI SA Bobde had reportedly orally remarked, “You cannot treat this court the way you are treating it. Some junior officer has filed the affidavit. Your affidavit is evasive and says the petitioner shows no instance of bad reporting. You may not agree but how can you say there is no instance of bad reporting shown?”

Large sections of the media had coined terms like “super spreaders” and “anti-nationals” to call out the Tablighi Jamaat attendees. Several of them were booked under the Epidemic Act and jailed. Other media houses had also engaged in ‘investigative reports’ on how ‘Madrasa hotspots’ were places where children were deliberately cooped up in close quarters, thereby placing their health in danger. The focus was only on “Muslim educational institutes,” ignoring other institutes like orphanages, old age homes, shelter homes that were open and running, housing several people during the lockdown. In fact, CJP had moved NBSA against this communally inflammatory reportage.

Over the last year, several attendees have been acquitted of all charges and have had the FIRs against them quashed. In some orders, the courts have also recognised that they were maliciously prosecuted. Read more about it in this SabrangIndia report.

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The post Tablighi Jamaat case: CJI says there is an attempt to give communal colour to news, it’s a problem appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In yet another case connected to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation of 2020, the Delhi High Court has been hearing a matter against Indian nationals for giving shelter to foreign attendees of the Tablighi Jamaat. The HC has directed the Delhi Police to inform it whether the Indian nationals, who allegedly housed foreign attendees, did so before or after issuance of the notifications imposing Covid-related restrictions in Delhi.

The court has sought a detailed status report as it is dealing with petitions challenging the 12 FIRs against 48 persons accused of allowing foreign nationals to live together in their houses after they attended the congregation. Justice Mukta Gupta asked the police to indicate the role of each accused and apprise it when the foreign nationals were housed in mosques or homes of the accused in Old Delhi, reported Indian Express.

In a status report filed earlier this year, the Delhi Police had said they had violated the directions issued by Delhi government that all religious places of any denomination shall be closed and any congregation is strictly prohibited. 

The petitioners have argued that the only allegations against them is of accommodating foreign nationals inside their houses when the country was locked down. Yet, the offences invoked against them include serious sections of the law, such as sections 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 269 and 270 (Negligent and malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) as well as 120B (criminal conspiracy). These offenses were commonly invoked against persons found in violation of Covid norms imposed by the government last year. The offence of criminal conspiracy was, however, reserved for special circumstances like the Jamaat itself. As is evident from the reading of the charges invoked against them, none of these pertain to the allegation made against them of giving shelter to Jamaat members. Firstly, giving shelter to Jamaat members is not an offence in itself. Further, it does not really amount to violation of the government order as the same does not mention that it was illegal to give shelter to people during the pandemic.

In fact, in January, Sessions Court in Dhanbad, Jharkhand had discharged 10 Indonesian nationals after they were found taking shelter in a mosque during the national lockdown. While the court did not comment on the role of the mosque secretary or president who offered them shelter, the court did take note of the situation they had landed in, due to the national lockdown. The court had observed that they entered India with a valid visa and only because of nationwide lockdown announced on March 24, 2020 they were unable to leave.

In the past year, one by one, these cases against Jamaat members came up before courts across the country and one by one they were either discharged from the offences or they were granted bail. Sabrangindia’s analysis of these multiple orders, reveals that the Courts have not just bailed out Tablighi members, but have seriously questioned the charges invoked against them, quashing the cases filed against them have emerged.

Some of these cases include Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court quashing FIR and chargesheet filed against 8 Myanmar nationals on September 21, 2020 whereby the court observed that there is no material on record to prove that applicants had indulged in any act which was likely to spread infection of Covid -19 and hence, no evidence to substantiate the fulfillment of ingredients of Sections 269 and 270 of IPC.

Further, on August 21, 2020, the Aurangabad Bench of Bombay High Court quashed FIRs against 29 foreign nationals and 6 Indians. The court had rightly pointed out that though restrictions are put on the foreigners who come to India on tourist visas to prevent them from engaging in Tablighi activity, there is no restriction on them to visit religious places to attend the normal religious activities like attending religious discourse. The court also highlighted that many Muslims from all over the word come to India as they are attracted to the reform movement of Tabligh Jamaat and that there is nothing on the record to show that this activity (Jamaat) is prohibited permanently by the Government. The court also observed that “there is nothing on the record to show that the Indians were prevented from accommodating persons in the Masjid or from supplying meals to the persons including the foreigners.”

These are some important observations made by courts when dealing with cases related to the Tablighi Jamaat. A congregation that was vilified on a mass scale and was wrongly pitted in the media as an event responsible for the spread of Covid-19 in the country, ought to be redeemed and washed off the false allegations made against its members, which are clearly not being found valid in the courts of law. The police have, irrespective of in which city or state the cases were registered, not been able to produce any material to show a criminal offence. Some courts even pointed out that cases were registered without application of mind and in a rather mechanical fashion.

Sixteen months after 11 state governments also filed 205 FIRs against 2,765 foreign nationals for allegedly violating visa terms and intentionally disregarding Covid-19 guidelines, not one member of the Tablighi Jamaat, a back-to-roots Islamic movement, has been convicted by any court.

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Muslim advocacy group’s tweet comparing Kumbh Mela with Tablighi Jamaat blocked

The post Tablighi Jamaat case: Was giving shelter to Jamaat members an offence? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

On April 13, the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) tweeted a Vice Media article about the Kumbh Mela saying, “As India’s COVID cases hit a new high, tens of thousands took a ritual bath together” and more text on an image of the Kumbh saying, “Tablighi Jamaat was ‘Corona Jihad’, but no one’s said a word about the Kumbh Mela with millions of attendees”.

But it was allegedly taken down by Twitter at the behest of the ruling regime. The IAMC, that aims for “empowerment through strategic advocacy for peace, pluralism and social justice” has now condemned the action. In a statement released over the weekend, IAMC has “expressed dismay over the government of India’s continued obsession with managing the news coverage of the pandemic instead of the pandemic itself.”

The group said, “As the pandemic rages across India accounting for almost half of all new cases globally, the government ordered Twitter to block over 50 tweets that criticized its complete mismanagement of the pandemic. Among them was a tweet by Indian American Muslim Council, comparing the rabid Islamophobia targeting the Tablighi Jamaat and all Indian Muslims in the early days of the pandemic with the near silence over government support for the massive Kumbh Mela, that has endangered the lives of millions of Hindu devotees and their fellow citizens.”

IAMC also shared a screengrab of the tweet. It may be viewed here:

Khalid Ansari, Vice-President of IAMC said, “The catastrophic surge in Covid-19 cases across India and the collapse of the country’s healthcare system is a monumental albeit avoidable tragedy for which the responsibility lies squarely on the government’s misplaced priorities.”

The groups statement goes on to point out “super spreader” events saying, “Far from leading by example to overcome the crisis, the Modi administration promoted the spread of the virus by organizing countless super spreader events in the form of election rallies where masking was not enforced and where Mr. Modi as well as Home Minister Amit Shah addressed massive crowds.”

As many as 52 tweets by journalists, activists and different organisations were allegedly blocked, in response to a request by the Government of India on Thursday. Medianama first broke the news of this after Twitter disclosed the legal takedown notice to the Lumen Database. Tweets removed include those by Revanth Reddy, a Member of Parliament from Telangana, West Bengal’s Labour and Law Minister Moloy Ghatak, actor Vineet Kumar Singh and many others. The entire Twitter account of Swaraj Abhiyan activist Zia Nomani was also suspended.

Twitter’s response

In response to the Medianama story, a Twitter spokesperson told the technology policy website, “When we receive a valid legal request, we review it under both the Twitter Rules and local law. If the content violates Twitter’s Rules, the content will be removed from the service. If it is determined to be illegal in a particular jurisdiction, but not in violation of the Twitter Rules, we may withhold access to the content in India only.”

Twitter’s past actions

This is not the first time Twitter has allegedly succumbed to pressure from the Indian government. SabrangIndia had previously reported that Kisan Ekta Morcha (KEM), the official handle of the farmers’ struggle, news magazine The Caravan and multiple media personnel lost access to their Twitter accounts on February 1, 2021 “in response to a legal demand.” However, these accounts were then reinstated by Twitter attracting the wrath of the Indian government.

On February 3, the central government issued a notice to Twitter for “unilaterally” unblocking over 250 such accounts despite being given specific orders by the Government to block them.

Then on February 10, 2021 Twitter said that it would not block accounts of journalists, activists and politicians because such an action would “violate fundamental right to free expression under Indian law.” In a blog post, Twitter further said, “In keeping with our principles of defending protected speech and freedom of expression, we have not taken any action on accounts that consist of news media entities, journalists, activists, and politicians. To do so, we believe, would violate their fundamental right to free expression under Indian law.”

What followed was a virtual meeting between Secretary Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITy), Government of India and a team from Twitter comprising Monique Meche, Vice President Global Public Policy and Jim Baker Deputy General Counsel and Vice President Legal. In a statement released after that meeting, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said that the Secretary had taken “this opportunity to remind Twitter that in India, its Constitution and laws are supreme. It is expected that responsible entities not only reaffirm but remain committed to compliance to the law of land.” There were also media reports about the possibility of arrest of top executives of Twitter at that time. But no further action was taken against any Twitter employee after that.

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The post Muslim advocacy group’s tweet comparing Kumbh Mela with Tablighi Jamaat blocked appeared first on SabrangIndia.

After objections raised by The Students Islamic Organisation, a reference book for second year MBBS course in Maharashtra, was removed as some contents in the book linked the Tablighi Jamaat’s congregation in New Delhi last year to the outbreak of coronavirus. The authors of the third edition of the book titled ‘Essentials of Medical Microbiology’ also tendered an apology in this connection, and assured that necessary changes will be made in the new edition of the book.

The objections were raised on the grounds that there is no epidemiological study that establishes Covid-19 spread was accelerated because of the congregation of Tablighi Jamaat.

The propaganda pushed by the media that the Tablighi Jamaat congregation was responsible for the spread of Covid-19 was proven to be false when the many cases filed against them were, one by one, dismissed by courts either by stating that majority of them were eventually tested negative, or on the ground that no case was made out against them and they were merely seeking refuge in mosques owing to the suddenly announced nationwide lockdown. 

About a year after 11 state governments also filed 205 FIRs against 2,765 foreign nationals for allegedly violating visa terms and intentionally disregarding Covid-19 guidelines, not one member of the Tablighi Jamaat, a back-to-roots Islamic movement, has been convicted by any court. An analysis of these multiple orders, reveals that the Courts have not just bailed out Tablighi members, but have seriously questioned the charges invoked against them, quashing the cases filed against them are slowly emerging. 

Bebaak Collective published a report Communalisation of Covid-19 highlighting that Muslims were quickly equated with the ‘virus’ and the ‘disease’ itself, and feared, hated and contained. The report covers seven states of northern, western and central India documents the synchronised working of the media, police and state authorities as the primary force which allowed for the discrimination, violence and exclusion faced by Muslims during the pandemic.

A petition was also filed before the Supreme Court against the communalisation of Covid-19 by the news media, and the narrative that ran with it. The case is pending before the court.

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The post Maharashtra: MBBS book linking Covid-19 spread with Tablighi Jamaat, recalled appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Arun Kumar Garg of the Saket court (Delhi), has ordered for the release of original passports, mobile phones and other belongings of 31 Tablighi Jamaat foreign nationals who have already been acquitted on December 15, 2020, reported LiveLaw.

After their acquittal, the Supreme Court had also taken up the matter and directed the Government of India to facilitate the return of all acquitted foreigners to their respective countries on January 13.

The CMM’s order also noted that in view of the Supreme Court’s order, the DCP Crime Branch had closed the lookout circulars that prevented all foreigners from leaving India on February 17, 2021. Thus, the application for the release of passports and other belongings was filed by the acquitted foreign nationals before the court.

The Investigating Officer also submitted that the department had no objections in releasing the passports, mobile phones and other important belongings.  

The Police had closed the lookout circular of all 35 foreigners, out of which four have already been given their passports and mobile phones, reported LiveLaw. Unfortunately, one Tunisia resident, Bechir Yanes died on January 5. The other members who had come to India to attend the Jamaat are now free to leave the country.

The order delivered by CMM Garg read: “In view of the aforesaid submissions made on behalf of the parties and considering the facts that the accused have already been acquitted by this Court vide judgment dated 15.12.2020, non-filing of any appeal/revision by the State against judgment dated 15.12.2020 of this Court till date and that LOC(s) qua the applicant(s) is disposed of with the direction to release the original passport(s) of the applicant(s) to the applicant(s) or his/her (their) attorney against proper acknowledgment as per rules, after verification of his/her (their) identity”.

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The post Tablighi Jamaat: Delhi court orders release of passports of acquitted foreign nationals appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The Supreme Court has sought clarity from the Central Government about the powers under Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 to control broadcast of content (by electronic media), that has a tendency to incite violence.

The top court was hearing a batch of petitions filed against several news reports allegedly responsible for communalisation of the Tablighi Jamaat gathering in 2020.

According to LiveLaw, a Bench led by Chief Justice SA Bobde said, “We aren’t concerned so much with what people are saying, people say anything these days. We are concerned with situations that may create violence and lead to loss of property and life.”

The petitioners have alleged that certain sections of the media used communal headlines and bigoted statements to demonise and blame the entire Muslim community of deliberately spreading the Coronavirus across the country, in the backdrop of the Tablighi Jamaat event in New Delhi, last year.

The CJI today asked the Central Government about its powers under the Cable TV Network Regulation Act and Program Code to prevent broadcast of inciteful content and threat to the law-and-order situation.

A couple of minutes into the hearing, the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted that the Government can stop broadcast of objectionable content and he will bring on record the details of instances where the Government has exercised its powers under the Act. The SG said that there is a group under the Ministry to monitor broadcast content for violations of the Programme Code.

The top court Bench pointed out that there was ambiguity in section 19 of the Cable TV Act that lays down the power to prohibit transmission of certain programmes in public interest. The court desired to know if it would include a “broadcaster” or only a cable TV network.

The Bench observed that the amendment adding the definition of “broadcaster” in the Cable TV Act does not reflect in the penal provisions of Section 19 and 20, as reported by LiveLaw. The Solicitor General replied that he will look into the issue of ambiguity and will file an affidavit and they were given three weeks’ time to do the same.

In April, last year, the Supreme Court had asked the Central Government about the action taken against media outlets, under the Cable TV Network (Regulation) Act, 1995. In October, 2020, on the same matter, Chief Justice Bobde had slammed the Centre for its ‘extremely offensive and brazen’ affidavit.

The Chief Justice reportedly asked, “You cannot treat this court the way you are treating it. Some junior officer has filed the affidavit. Your affidavit is evasive and says the petitioner shows no instance of bad reporting. You may not agree but how can you say there is no instance of bad reporting shown?”

Further, in November, 2020 the court had expressed displeasure at the second affidavit filed by the Ministry too. “We are not satisfied with your affidavit. We had asked you to tell us what you have done under the Cable TV Act? There is no whisper about that in the affidavit. We must tell you that we are disappointed with the Union’s affidavit in these matters”, CJI reportedly said.

He reportedly asked, “We want to know the mechanism employed by you and this affidavit has nothing on it. Why should we refer to NBSA etc when you have the authority to look into it? If it does not exist, then you create an authority, else we will hand it over to an outside agency?”

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The post Tablighi Jamaat reportage: SC seeks clarity on Centre’s power under Cable TV Act appeared first on SabrangIndia.

A Jharkhand Court discharged 10 Indonesian nationals charged under the Foreigners Act after they had attended Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Delhi’s Nizamuddin Markaz and sought shelter at a mosque. The District and Additional Sessions Judge-III, Dhanbad found that the charges invoked were not accompanied with any reason or evidence to prove the charges.

The counsel of the petitioners contended that the entire prosecution is abuse of law having no material available to frame valid charges and pleaded for discharge of the petitioners. The prosecution said that the Inspector found the petitioners, 10 Indonesian nationals housed in Aasanbani Mosque and they disclosed that they had attended Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi. The petitioners stated that they were given shelter in the mosque by secretary and president of the mosque on March 23, 2020. Further, the petitioners had even informed the police station about their presence and their stay until March 27, 2020. The petitioners submitted that based on the same grounds, the Jharkhand High Court had granted them bail.

The court observed that incorrect charges were imposed under section 14B (penalty for using forged passport) and 14C (penalty for abatement for such offence) of the Foreigners Act. The prosecutor conceded that petitioners were not carrying forged passports and hence, the charge under Section 14C also does not apply. The court observed that even in the case diary no reason for submitting charge sheet against the petitioners under the penal provisions of Foreigners Act has been assigned. The court observed that they entered India with a valid visa and only because of nationwide lockdown announced on March 24, 2020 they were unable to leave and then they were quarantined and charged under the Foreigners Act. After being kept in quarantine, they tested negative for Covid-19.

The court came to a finding that there is acute absence of materials to proceed further and framing any charge u/s 14B, 14C/13 of The Foreigners Act 1946 and accordingly allowed the petition for discharge under these charges. The remaining charges against them under the IPC and Epidemic Diseases Act come under the jurisdiction of Judicial Magistrate First Class. The court also directed the JMFC court to follow the timeline indicated and directed by the Supreme Court vide order dated December 18, 2020 to complete the trial within two months.

The complete order may be read here.

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The post Tablighi Jamaat: Jharkhand court dismisses 10 Indonesians appeared first on SabrangIndia.

With the release of Tabligh Jamaat (TJ) members by a Delhi court sometime back, there has been a surfeit of condemnation of those who dared to criticise the Tabligh Jamaat for holding its religious gathering during the onset of the corona pandemic. It is being argued that all those who condemned the TJ must now apologise as the courts have not found them guilty. However, amidst this cacophony, there is a need to separate the vilification of TJ (which must be called out) and the putrid speeches delivered by its chief vehemently negating the dangers of the pandemic and putting many lives at risk.

Let us start with the larger narrative spun around the Tabligh Jamaat which was deeply disturbing. This narrative expressly targeted the TJ (and by extension all Muslims) for spreading the virus. Let us not forget that the government and the media targeted the Muslim community, scapegoating them in order to link the community with the spread of the virus. Just like medieval Europe had blamed the Jews for the plague, the Hindu Right weaponized a virus to target the Muslim community. Whereas, the world over, the virus flattened any distinction of caste, creed and colour; in India, it (the virus) was given an Islamic identity.

At many levels therefore, the role of the media and the government was nothing sort of criminal when it came to portraying the Tabligh Jamaat in a negative way. They were accused of conducting ‘corona jihad’ by the media with fake images of Tabligh Jamaat members flooding the internet conspiring to spread the virus in different ways. On has not forgotten that the barrage of fake videos which started doing the rounds on social media depicting Muslims deliberately smearing vegetables and fruits with their saliva, spitting into food served in restaurants, and coughing into the faces of other people, all with the malevolent intent of infecting non-Muslims. One also remembers with alacrity hashtags like #bioJihad and #tablighijamaatvirus that began to circulate on social media with terrifying consequences. The media was directly responsible for putting Muslim lives in danger as their communal reporting led to chilling consequences for ordinary Muslims. One remembers how Muslim vegetable vendors were not allowed to enter Hindu localities; one also remembers how a COVID ward in a Gujarat hospital got separated between Hindus and Muslims.

It must be stressed that at the time when the Tabligh Jamaat was holding its’ program, there was no lockdown in effect. In fact, even the parliament was functioning as if everything was normal. Therefore we must be clear that there was no illegality involved in the ongoing programs of the TJ. Rather, it was the sudden announcement of lockdown which did not give any time to people to prepare for this eventuality, which made the situation precarious for the Tablighis. Since people from different parts of the world had gathered for the religious program, the sudden lockdown made them stranded in a foreign country with the government having no plan to help with their emigration.

It must be said that being a transnational movement, the Tabligh Jamaat was in a better position to know about the incoming pandemic. It could have been clairvoyant and postponed the program much earlier and asked its delegates to return to their home countries. At the same time, we must also remember that the TJ was not the only religious organization to have gone with a planned program and as such cannot be held uniquely responsible for not reading the situation. Other religious organizations did pretty much the same thing in India and elsewhere. However, unlike the TJ, they were hardly castigated for being responsible for spreading the virus.

Transgressions by other religious organizations were overlooked because the sole focus of the media and government was to shift the blame on Muslims. Despite the lockdown effective since March 24th, the Uttar Pradesh chief minister attended a Ram Navami event in Ayodhya the very next day on the 25th of March. Before the lockdown became effective, a Sikh preacher, Baldev Singh, who had returned from Italy and Germany, defied government stipulated self-quarantine measures and continued to freely preach in various religious assemblies. The guru died because of the virus and the Punjab government put nearly 40,000 people in isolation with whom the guru had come into contact. Despite such callous behaviour displayed by an elected chief minister and a religious guru, neither the government nor the media houses highlighted these issues. Rather, the sole focus remained on how Muslims were spreading the virus.

Normally, one would have expected the government to intervene and stop this vilification. But what we saw was the exact opposite: the health ministry in its bulletin directly blamed the Tabligh Jamaat for spreading the virus in India. Other state apparatus like the judiciary were hardly convinced of this narrative peddled by the media and the government. In fact, in August, the Mumbai high court castigated the Maharashtra government for making the TJ a ‘scapegoat’ in order to hide its own failures in combating the virus. Those who are demanding that the media and the government apologise to the TJ should not forget that these institutions will never do so. This vilification of Muslims through the Tabligh Jamaat was part of a design to increase hatred towards Muslims. Given the fact that so many fake videos became viral, it seems that willing Hindus saw nothing wrong in such vilification of a particular community. 

However, we should also not forget that the speeches of Maulana Saad, the chief of TJ, gave much grist to those who wanted to make Muslims the ultimate villain. The ignorant utterances of Maulana Saad perpetuated irrationality and blind faith and should have been roundly condemned by all Muslims. However, over the past many years, it has become incumbent on Muslims to defend all kinds of nonsense which religious leaders indulge in. Instead of cautioning its followers and asking them to desist from congregating in mosques, the chief, Saad Kandhalvi did the very opposite. He stated that the virus was a punishment sent from God. In speeches made between March 20 and 22, he told his followers: ‘this is the time to bring the Ummah (Muslim community) to the mosques, not of leaving the mosques….. This is the time you should organise visits and bring people to mosques because the calamity that has struck us is due to our leaving the mosques…. It is a false belief that the virus spreads through assembling in the mosque. Even if you observe that a man dies after entering the mosque, then I will say that there cannot be a better place to die. …. The government wants you to choose remedial measures over fate…. only the Kuffar (unbelievers) rely on remedial measures and resources, Muslims only rely on Amaal (religious deeds) and prayers’.

Such foolish utterances of an influential religious figure should not be glossed over for the sake of political correctness. It was only in subsequent oration on the 25th of March, under the active advice of the government, that the chief of the Tabligh Jamaat toned down his religious rhetoric and asked his followers to follow the social distancing guidelines. If one is condemning the actions of the media and the government then one should also not desist from condemning such speeches of Maulana Saad. It is a travesty of our times that even critical Muslims have fallen for the idea that defending Maulana Saad is coterminous with defending attacks on Muslims. This is simply wrong. There is no contradiction between defending attacks on Muslims while at the same time critiquing whatever is wrong within the community.   

—–

Arshad Alam is a columnist with NewAgeIslam.com  

This article was first published on https://www.newageislam.com

The post The Tablighis Were Indeed Made Scapegoats; But Will Muslims Condemn Maulana Saad’s Retrograde Speeches? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The discovery that about a 1,000 people were present for the congregation at the Markaz and that many of them had travelled to different parts of the country, was followed by not just a media trial, but a factory of fake news aimed at dehumanising an entire community.

The media trial

Within days of the national lockdown being announced news broke that about 1,000 people were found at Nizamuddin Markaz, Delhi for a congregation. It was identified as a hotspot by the Delhi government and it was reported that many people who attended the congregation had travelled to different parts of the country before the national lockdown could be announced. From here on several conjectures were reached that numbers of Covid affected persons was increasing in the country because the Jamaat members people brought the virus into the country, that there was a controversy to spread the virus in the country and so on.

Here are some examples of news channels that contributed to this manufactured frenzy. On April 24, India TV in its show titled “Haqeeqat Kya hai” reported that Jamaat members had come to India with a hatched plan to spread Covid-19 in the country and also made baseless claims such that if Jamaat had not emerged as a hotspot, the national lockdown would not have to extended.

The news media was rife with terms like “corona jihad”, “Taliban Tablighis”, “corona bomb” and many more such outrageous terms to play the narrative of blaming the spread of a pandemic on a community. Times Now called it “Markaz mayhem” and accused the Arvind Kejriwal government of not dealing with the “super spreaders” inside the Nizamuddin centre, because of “appeasement”, as reported by The Print.

Some news channels even mapped out the movements of Jamaat members who travelled to different parts of the country, marking them with red tags, creating not only a panic situation for general public but also adding fuel to the much prevalent animosity.

On March 31, Zee News aired a show that analysed how Tablighi Jamaat betrayed the country, which had over 2 lakh views. In another show hosted by Sudhir Chaudhary on Zee News, he said “India stood stronger in front of the coronavirus till now. But this fight has been weakened by corrupted thinking. This thinking is of people from Tablighi Jamaat”. This was called   “Tablighi ‘Jamaat’ कीघटियाहरकतोंकीगवाहियां”, which translates as “Testimonies of Despicable Actions of Tablighi Jamaat” and it has close to 2 lakh views again.

On April 8, Times Now’s Navika Kumar hosted a show  “Tablighi still remains untraced, Is it time to file a murder charge?” and she called it a “Tablighi ticking time bomb”. Another host, Rahul Shivshankar, in his show aired on April 2, questioned, “25% of positive Corona cases in India have been traced to Tabligh. They broke the law and even ignored PM Narendra Modi’s pleas. Is Jamaat wilfully sabotaging India?”
 

Fake news

There were several instances of reportage of fake news even by national news channels and their social media platforms. Many a times these news reports were refuted by the police or state administration and other times they were doused by fact checking websites.

On April 9, Arunachal Pradesh Information and Public Relations department called out Zee News for falsely reporting that the Northeastern state has 11 coronavirus patients who can be traced back to the Delhi congregation.

Zee News was also called out by Firozabad Police for misreporting on April 6, that 4 corona positive patients, all from Tablighi Jamaat, pelted stones at the medical team that had come to escort them. This was posted on their Facebook page which it received more than 5,500 likes and 1,400 shares, reported News Laundry. “You are spreading false and misleading news when neither a medical team nor any ambulance has been pelted with stones in Firozabad district,” the Firozabad police tweeted from their official handle. “Delete your tweet immediately.”

On April 5, Amar Ujala newspaper reported that members of the Tablighi Jamaat asked for non-vegetarian food and defecated in the open inside a quarantine facility in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur. This was shared on their Facebook page and garnered 4,000 likes. A local media outlet, News 1 India, picked up the Saharanpur story and shared it on Twitter, adding that it was mutton biryani that members of the Tablighi Jamaat desired.

The Saharanpur police used its official Twitter account to reply to the tweet with a statement that the claims of the media outlets were investigated and found to be “wrong and untrue”, reported News Laundry.
 

Muslims facing discrimination

As these media trials and fake news spread through the public, incidents of discrimination and sometimes even assault started creeping up. There was one video surfacing on social media, shot by a Muslim delivery boy who was showing that a Hindu man refused to accept a delivery of goods from him only because he was Muslim. Zee News did an “analysis” of this incident and raised questions like “Are the Jamaatis responsible for this?”

There was also a video surfacing of a BJP MLA from Deoria, UP where he can be seen saying, “Keep this in mind and I am saying this openly, no one should buy vegetables from Muslims”. There were also incidents of social boycott, one such incident led to a Muslim taking his own life. Reportedly, he was suspected to have contacts with a Tablighi Jamaat member and he was suspected to have Covid-19. Then he was quarantined and when he came back to his village he was allegedly discriminated against and was boycotted which drive him to take his life.

Even as fingers were being pointed at the Jamaat members throughout this long drawn episode of blaming the spread of a pandemic on them, very few voices questioned the Delhi government or Delhi Police on why was permission granted for such an event and if it was given much beforehand, it meant they were aware and it slipped through the cracks. They were equally to be held responsible for Markaz becoming a hotspot. Looking back, one wonders how a few thousand people, who were backed up against the wall were blamed for a pandemic that has now affected millions over the past months. Tablighi Jamaat became all but an excuse, a punching bag, to shift people’s attention to a blame game rather than seriously question the government’s handling of the pandemic, its callous attitude towards the entire section of the migrant worker population and a denial of the hunger and deprivation Indians were suffering. This section of the Media played well to the government’s cynical tune.

Will these errant media houses be made to pay?

Related:

Tablighi Jamaat: Delhi court acquits all foreigners after months of trial

Justify ‘attempt to murder’ charge on Tablighi Jamaat attendee: Allahabad HC

Tablighi Jamaat news reportage: SC slams Centre’s shoddy counter-affidavit

The post Will a vile electronic media pay for vilification of the Tablighi Jamaat? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

While the rule of law has certainly triumphed, and Tablighi Jamaat members head home after being subjected to daily media trial for days at end, the courts are finding out that these Jamaat members were incarcerated without enough evidence in most cases.

The narrative around the Tablighi Jamaat is turning turtle as Indian courts exonerate this conservative Muslim sect of conspiracy spread around the Coronavirus. Eight months after 11 state governments also filed 205 FIRs against 2,765 foreign nationals for allegedly violating visa terms and intentionally disregarding Covid-19 guidelines, not one member of the Tablighi Jamaat, a back-to-roots Islamic movement, has been convicted by any court.

The Tablighi Jamaat is a missionary movement that encourages Muslims to adhere to the faith as originally conceived and its global headquarters, or markaz, in Delhi draws pilgrims from many nations. This year, weeks before the lockdown was arbitrarily announced, in March 2020, followers of this movement from about 70 countries attended a Jamaat congregation at its markaz in Delhi’s Nizamuddin neighbourhood.

The Indian government accused foreign Tablighi visitors of spreading the virus in the country, even when a Namaste Trump attempt and many other similar large gatherings had been permitted long after the World Health Organisation (WHO) had declared the disease a pandemic. Seriously upsetting the official Islamophobic narrative, Indian Courts, slowly but surely have beenexonerating individuals of this sect and the Jamaat as a whole. About 1,086 members of the Jamaat have been exonerated, over the past four months, through eight local and high court judgements Judges have used terms to indict the campaign that was orchestrated to vilify this sect. These include: a “virtual persecution”; “made scapegoats by a political government”; “not an iota of evidence”; “abuse of process”; “abuse of power”; “maliciously prosecuted”.

After the blame game was played out through a supine media, Indian Courts read into the law and so far in all cases have deemed the Jamaat members to be anything but guilty. The courts have quashed cases, granted bails and even the apex court waived off the 10-year embargo ordered by a high court on entry to India to a foreign national. 

So, while the Tablighi Jamaat has emerged as Victim not Perpetrator, it is unlikely that this point of closure will get the media attention like its vilification did. Multiple news channels responsible for carrying a cynical government narrative to their hundreds of thousands of viewers —irresponsibly declaring an entire community (read Muslims as ‘superspreaders’ of the Corona Virus) will neither apologise not pay up.

Sabrangindia’s analysis of these multiple orders, reveals that the Courts have not just bailed out Tablighi members, but have seriously questioned the charges invoked against them, quashing the cases filed against them are slowly emerging. Will those guilty of malicious prosecutions be hauled over the coals, let alone punished?

Delhi became the initial fulcrum around the criminal cases related to the Tablighi event, with FIRs lodged against 955 foreign nationals and seven Indians, including a sect head called Maulana Muhammad Saad. A spin let loose by government’s spin doctors was readily swallowed by significant sections of the news media and the story rode the waves for over a fortnight.Over 900 of them had pleaded guilty as a part of a plea bargain because they did not want to stay back in India till the completion of the trial that could take months. 

Here’s a look at all those court orders and judgments which brought justice to the Jamaat members.This article examines the court orders. Another piece turns the public gaze back on to media channels who further spun the government’s sordid tale.

What the Courts have said about the Tablighi Jamaat Vilification

36 people acquitted

On December 15, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) of Saket Court, Arun Kumar Garg acquitted all 36 foreigners accused in the Tablighi Jamaat case, noting that the prosecution failed to prove the presence of the accused inside the Markaz premises and contradictions in the witness statements. The 36 foreigners hail from 14 different countries including US, Russia, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Thailand, etc.

“It is beyond comprehension of the court, as to how IO (Inspector Satish Kumar) could have identified 952 foreign nationals out of 2,343 persons who, as per SHO, were found flouting the guidelines, without any Test Identification Parade (TIP), but on the basis of list provided by MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs),” CMM Garg reportedly said.

Of the 44 foreigners, eight were discharged by a magistrate court on August 24, 2020 of all charges under which they were chargesheeted in the absence of any record or credible material against them. The remaining eight were acquitted yesterday on similar grounds citing lack of evidence.
 

Charge of attempt to murder questioned

On December 2, Allahabad High Court directed the police officer who invoked charges of attempt to murder against a Tablighi Jamaat attendee to justify the same. The court held that invoking charges under section 307 prima facie reflects abuse of the power of law. Thus, the court directed the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) to file an affidavit in the matter and also directed the CO to file personal affidavit indicating as to how the ingredients of Section 307 IPC are made out from the facts in the record from the material collected during the investigation and justify the amendment directed by him to the chargesheet.

Discharge of 44 foreigners upheld

On November 19, a Delhi Court refused to entertain the plea of Delhi government against discharge of 44 foreign nationals who were held for being part of Tablighi Jamaat. The Magistrate’s decision was based on the fact that the chargesheet and other documents did not show the presence of the respondent, IunusGurba, a citizen of Kyrgyzstan or his participation in the Markaz during the relevant period. The court also observed no document suggested that respondent was one of the participants who was involved in Tablighi work. The Sessions court upheld this order of the Magistrate court.

10-year embargo on entry waived

On November 16, the Supreme Court clarified that the condition imposed on foreign nationals by the Karnataka High Court to not enter the country for the next 10 years will not be considered while deciding any future applications for visa for travel to India. The petitioner and other similarly placed appellants had moved the Karnataka High Court for quashing of the FIR against them. A single judge bench of the high court vide an order dated October 13, 2020, quashed criminal proceedings against them and directed the state to make necessary arrangement or issuance of exit permits to them. While the court quashed proceedings against them, the court did so, with a condition that they would not return to India for another 10 years.
 

20 foreign nationals acquitted

On October 19, a Mumbai Court acquitted 20 people who had come to attend the Tablighi Jamaat Ijtema and had come to Mumbai after the event got over. The court ruled in favour of the accused foreign nationals hailing from Indonesia and Kyrgyzstan as the Prosecution failed to provide any evidence of wrongdoing against them. “there is no iota of evidence with prosecution to show any contravention of order by accused persons beyond all shadow of doubt,” concluded the court.

On September 29, Bandra Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court in Mumbai discharged 12 foreign nationals from Indonesia who had come to attend Tablighi Jamaat. Metropolitan Magistrate Jaydeo Y. Ghule noted that nothing reveals that the “accused had deliberately disobeyed the order duly promulgated by the Public Servant as well as negligently, they were acting in the manner as was likely to spread the infection of the disease dangerous to life.” The court also directed the accused to be discharged from all charges levelled against them, to return their seized passports with due identification and cancel their bail bond.

FIR quashed, chargesheet quashed against 8 people

On September 21, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court quashed FIR and chargesheet filed against 8 Myanmar nationals who were booked for being part of Tablighi Jamaat and its activities. The court held that the prosecution did not produce any material “to prove that the applicants were engaged in Tabligh work and they were involved in preaching religious ideology or making speeches in religious places.”

While considering the charges under section 269 and 270 of IPC which are concerned with spread of infectious disease, the court held, “There is no material on record to prove that applicants had indulged in any act which was likely to spread infection of Covid -19. Therefore, from the material produced in the charge-sheet, there is no evidence to substantiate the fulfillment of ingredients of Sections 269 and 270 of the Indian Penal Code.” While deciding that the FIR and the chargesheet against the 8 applicants be quashed, the court held that, “Compelling the applicants to undergo the trial would cause grave injustice.”

FIRs against 29 foreign nationals and 6 Indians quashed

This high court order is the only time until now that the government was called out for acting out of malice while taking action against Tablighi Jamaat members. In its 58-page judgment, dated August 21, Aurangabad bench of Bombay High Court called out the blatant communalism and the way the entire incident was handled by the government, the police and the media.

The court further pointed out that though restrictions are put on the foreigners who come to India on tourist visas to prevent them from engaging in Tablighi activity, there is no restriction on them to visit religious places to attend the normal religious activities like attending religious discourse. About the allegations against the petitioners, the court observed that they are vague in nature and one cannot draw an inference that they were spreading Islam religion and there was intention of conversion. The court also observed that “there is nothing on the record to show that the Indians were prevented from accommodating persons in the Masjid or from supplying meals to the persons including the foreigners.”
 

About the media propaganda against Tablighi Jamaat, the court said,

“There was big propaganda in print media and electronic media against the foreigners who had come to Markaz Delhi and an attempt was made to create a picture that these foreigners were responsible for spreading covid-19 virus in India. There was virtually persecution against these foreigners. A political Government tries to find the scapegoat when there is pandemic or calamity and the circumstances show that there is probability that these foreigners were chosen to make them scapegoats.”

The court held that the petitioners were not in breach of any orders issued by the government as they were stationed at one place before the orders were issued and there is no proof to show that they were infected before they came to India.

Over 100 foreigners let off

On July 11 it was reported that  around 121 men from Malaysia and 11 more from Saudi Arabia had pleaded guilty before magistrate court, to violating Covid-19 lockdown rules and visa rules and hence they were set free after imposing a fine between Rs 7,000-Rs 10,000. Delhi Police which had swooped down on the Tablighi Jamaat headquarters at Nizamuddin, in one of the most publicized events in the city, had not raised any objections to the foreigners being let off with a mere fine. 
 

11 foreign nationals granted bail

On June 12, the Madras High Court held that the activities of the applicants have not prejudiced public tranquility and that there is absolutely nothing on record to indicate that they had contributed to the spread of the novel Coronavirus. Further, the court refused to categorize them as “Tablighis” and instead wanted to see them just as humans. The court further noticed that despite 70 days had elapsed, there had been no progress in investigation of cases against the applicants.

Interim bail to 6 foreign nationals

On June 9, the Allahabad high court granted interim bail to six Bangladeshi nationals while granting permission to reside at the place mentioned in the tourist Visas and were given liberty to receive disclosed financial support from their relatives in Bangladesh or anyone in India and if necessary directed the government to provide them financial support. The court also suggested that the Centre enter into a dialogue with the government of Bangladesh and decide upon the criminal case without having to resort to a criminal trial, to avoid the same. The applicants were further granted regular bail on December 15.

The abovementioned court orders and judgments give a clear picture of how the law was able to finally clear the air that the haphazard manner in which action was taken against Jamaat members and their incarceration was unjustified and unwarranted to the least. The media trial that went on throughout this period is also being dealt with by the Supreme court in a plea seeking action against the media for spreading hate against the Tablighi Jamaat. On October 8, the apex court reprimanded the central government for defending the media in its affidavit by making “nonsensical averments”. The court called its affidavit “extremely offensive and brazen”. The CJI, SA Bobde is known to have said, “Your affidavit is evasive and says petitioner shows no instance of bad reporting. You may not agree but how you can say there is no instance of bad reporting shown?”

On November 20, the court expressed strong displeasure over the counter-affidavit filed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) which reasserted that the media has largely been neutral with respect to the reporting on the Tablighi Jamaat event. The CJI remarked, “We are not satisfied with your affidavit. We had asked you to tell us what you have done under the Cable TV Act? There is no whisper about that in the affidavit. We must tell you that we are disappointed with the Union’s affidavit in these matters.”

Justice delayed but yet justice done. The damage however can never really be undone.

Related:

Tablighi Jamaat: Delhi court acquits all foreigners after months of trial

Justify ‘attempt to murder’ charge on Tablighi Jamaat attendee: Allahabad HC

Tablighi Jamaat news reportage: SC slams Centre’s shoddy counter-affidavit

The post Clean chit to Tablighi Jamaat, too little, too late? appeared first on SabrangIndia.