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Telangana: 20-year-old Engineering student sets herself ablaze fearing Chinese COVID-19 infection

OpIndia Staff
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Telangana: 20-year-old Engineering student sets herself ablaze fearing Chinese COVID-19 infection

In a distressing incident, a 20-year old engineering student has committed suicide by setting herself ablaze in Telangana’s Rajanna Siricilla fearing that she might have contracted the Chinese coronavirus.

According to the reports, the deceased has been identified as Dasari Sravanthi, daughter of Dasari Balaiah of Jillella village of Thangallapalli block in the district. She was a studying fourth yeat B.Tech at a private engineering college in Siddipet district.

The complaint lodged by the victim’s mother Lakshmi said that the deceased set herself ablaze when no one was at home.

“My husband Balaiah went to Muscat long ago, my son Vamsi and I had gone to the fields for work and my father-in-law Rajaiah had gone out for some personal work. When my father-in-law returned home in the afternoon, Sravanthi was burning in flames. By the time my son and I reached home, she was already dead,” Lakshmi said in the complaint.

The police rushed immediately to the village with a fire tender to put out the flames. A suicide note was recovered from the house in which Sravanthi said she was suffering from symptoms of cold and fever and feared she might be suffering from coronavirus.

“She suspected that she might have contracted the virus from her co-passengers in the bus in which she used to travel to her college in Siddipet. She asked her brother to take care of parents,” Lakshmi said.

Lakshmi added that there could be some other reason for her suicide and requested a thorough investigation as Sravanthi had not spoken about symptoms before.

Rahul Hegde, the Superintendent of Police of Rajanna Siricilla said that prima facie, it was evident that Sravanthi had committed suicide fearing that she might have contracted COVID-19. “But we have sent the suicide note to the forensic experts to find out whether it was written by Sravanthi herself or fabricated by anybody else. We are also awaiting the autopsy report to know whether she really had any COVID-19 symptoms,” the SP said.

This incident comes on the lines of a similar incident after a 58-year-old man committed suicide in Channarayapatna taluk in Hassan district on Sunday morning. The parent was earlier examined for COVID–19 infection and tested negative for the same. However, he was asked to stay quarantined at home for two weeks.

As the deceased had suffered from many other ailments, it has been suspected that the quarantine might have driven him to take the extreme step, said the medical officer.

In another incident, a 44-year old senior anaesthetist, Utpaljit Barman who was working at Pratiksha Hospital in Guwahati had reportedly died from a heart attack after he took anti-malarial drug Hydroxychloroquine, that is also said to be effective against the Wuhan Coronavirus.

Delhi’s state cancer institute shut after a doctor tested positive of Coronavirus

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi’s state cancer institute shut after a doctor tested positive of Coronavirus

The Delhi State Cancer Institute has been shut to suspend the hospital’s out-patient clinics for the purpose of sanitizing the premises after one of its doctors has been tested positive for coronavirus. The 35-year old doctor from the institute’s preventive oncology department is admitted at the Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital in Rohini. His wife and child are admitted to nearby Lok Nayak hospital near Delhi gate after having tested positive.

As per reports, the origin of his infection is unclear. An official of the Delhi government health department said that the doctor had no history of foreign travel and neither was he treating any COVID-19 positive patient. And while his brother and sister-in-law did travel to the UK in February, they haven’t tested positive for the infection.

Delhi’s Health Minister Satyender Jain while speaking to ANI said that the hospital has been closed for today and it is being disinfected. The health minister added that those who came in contact with the doctor will be quarantined.

This is the fourth case in Delhi where a doctor has tested positive. First two were Mohalla Clinic Doctors while other was a private practitioner. One of the Mohalla Clinic doctors came in touch with a Saudi return woman who later tested positive for COVID-19. His wife and daughter also later tested positive. About 800 people who came in touch with the doctor were quarantined.

Coronavirus Outbreak: Banks start rolling out EMI moratorium scheme, know the details and impacts

OpIndia Staff
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Coronavirus Outbreak: Banks start rolling out EMI moratorium scheme, know the details and impacts

To give a relief to people who may have suffered a hit on their income due to the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic, the Reserve Bank of India had on 27th March had permitted the banks to allow a moratorium of three months on EMI payments of all term loans. Following the advisory of the regulatory bank, several banks have now announced that their loan customers can defer payment of EMIs for three months. As RBI has not directly deferred the EMI payments, and ‘permitted’ the banks to defer the same, each bank will have to announce the EMI moratorium individually, and each bank may adopt different process to implement the same. Accordingly, banks have started issuing such notifications.

State Bank of India, India’s largest bank, tweeted yesterday, “In terms of RBI COVID 19 regulatory package, SBI has initiated steps to defer instalments and interest/EMIs on Term Loans falling due between 01.03.2020 to 31.05.2020 and extended the repayment period by 3 months.”

SBI has adopted an opt-in system for the moratorium, which means customers who want to defer their EMI payments will have to inform the bank about their intention. For those loans where EMIs are collected through National Automated Clearing House (NACH) or Standing instructions, customers are required to send an email to the bank along with a duly filled annexure. The respective email ID for various locations and annexures are available on this webpage of the bank. Customers who want to continue paying EMIs need not take any action.

Largest private sector bank ICICI Bank has also given their customers the option of opt-in or opt-out of the moratorium scheme for EMI payments. The bank has enabled the moratorium automatically for certain category of loans, and those who want to continue pay their EMIs for loans will have to Opt-Out of the moratorium by sending an SMS or e-mail. Such loans are Kisan Credit Card (KCC), Farm Equipment (FE), Self-Help Group (SHG)/Joint Lending Group (JLG)/Loans given through Business Correspondent (BC), Jewel Loan, Corporate Farmer Finance, Business Lending – Unsecured (Current Account Over Draft/Small Business Loan/Roaming Protect/Loan Against Credit Card Receivable), Dealer Funding, Working Capital/Trade Advance to Auto Dealers, Commercial Business, Working Capital/Trade Advance to Commercial Business customers, Consumer Finance, Two Wheeler Loans. If customers of these loans do not Opt-Out, it will be assumed that they have opted for the deferment. For all other types of loans, the customers will have to Opt-In for the moratorium.

Bank of Baroda has also published a FAQ on the moratorium scheme, which says that customers will have to approach their base branch to stop Standing Instruction or NACH mandate by Mail of letter.

Similarly, HDFC Bank also has issued guidelines for the scheme. Customers who want to defer their EMI or interest payments during the lockdown period may request for the same. The bank also says if customers skip payment of EMI, it will be assumed that they are opting for the moratorium. Loan customers of IDBI Bank can defer their EMI payments by sending an email to [email protected] latest by April 3, 2020.

Several other banks have announced the implementation of the moratorium scheme, while others are in the process of doing so. It is expected that most other banks will start rolling out the scheme very soon.

The EMI moratorium scheme is for three months, March to May. but if some customers have already paid the March EMI, they will get moratorium of only two months. Some banks have allowed refund of already paid March EMI, if customers want.

Impact of EMI moratorium

Although the scheme allows loan customers to defer their EMI payment, it is important to know its implications. Even though one need not pay the monthly instalments, interest will continue to accrue on the loan account. And due to the deferment, the loan tenure will get extended by 3 months, resulting in increased interest payment. This means, total interest payable on the loan will go up, which will eventually result in an increase in the number of EMIs to be paid to repay the loan completely.

According to an illustration by SBI, for an auto loan of Rs.6 Lacs with a remaining maturity of 54 months, the additional interest payable would be Rs.19,000 approx, which will equal to an additional 1.5 EMIs. And, for a home loan of Rs.30 Lacs with a remaining maturity of 15 years, the net additional interest would be approximately Rs.2.34 Lacs equal to 8 EMIs.

Therefore, all banks have advised that this scheme should be used by only those people who have faced a hurdle in cash flow during the lockdown period and overall downfall in business during the coronavirus pandemic. For those people who are not affected financially, like salaried people, they should not opt for the moratorium, and should continue to pay their dues as scheduled.

Ahmednagar: Health officials seeking contact tracing of Tablighi Jamaat attendees assaulted on the suspicion of collecting information for CAA/NPR, 3 arrested

OpIndia Staff
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Ahmednagar: Health officials seeking contact tracing of Tablighi Jamaat attendees assaulted on the suspicion of collecting information for CAA/NPR, 3 arrested

While the authorities across the country are scrambling to identify the Markas attendees who participated in the congregation in Nizamuddin in mid-March, a team of health officials in Ahmednagar were beaten up by contacts of Markas attendees on the suspicion that they are collecting information for the Citizenship Amendment Act(CAA), NPR and NPR. The health officials were simply involved in- contact tracing, the process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person (“contacts”) and subsequent collection of further information about these contacts.

On March 29, Sunday, 2 positive COVID-19 cases with the history of attending the Markas Nizamuddin had come to the fore. Following this discovery, the health officials in the region on Monday started contact tracing by visiting door to door in the village of Ahmednagar seeking details from the residents about their past travel, and if they had come in contact with suspected Markas attendees, considering the participants of Markas attendees were Islamic preachers. The protruding questions fuelled misgivings among the residents who thought the officials are seeking details for CAA and NPR. The residents then thwacked the health officials and stopped them from tracing contacts who may have come in touch with Markas attendees and contracted the deadly contagion.

A case was registered for obstruction of duties of government officials after which 3 people involved in the assault of the health officials were arrested by the police.

The deaths of 10 people from COVID-19 who had attended a congregation in Nizamuddin touched off a massive manhunt to identify the myriad participants from different states that attended the religious event held On March 21 in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area by the Tablighi Jamaat, a Sunni organisation. More than 1700 Muslims had assembled for Tablighi Jamaat at Nizamuddin Markaz in South Delhi out of which around 1530 hailed from India and rest from the foreign countries.

The thousands who took part in the event later returned to their homes in virtually every state. Many of these reported COVID-19 cases are linked to the Tablighi Jamaat. The state governments have now started identifying and locating these people in order to stop the transmission of Chinese virus in the population.

Reel life ‘Lord Ram’ Arun Govil appeals to people to stay at home and follow PM Modi’s guidelines

OpIndia Staff
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Reel life ‘Lord Ram’ Arun Govil appeals to people to stay at home and follow PM Modi’s guidelines

Days after Doordarshan started to telecast Ramanand Sagar’s 1987 television series Ramayan, actor Arun Govil, who played the lead role of ‘Lord Ram’, appealed to everyone to abide by the rules and follow PM Modi’s guideline in view of the Coronavirus outbreak.

Public broadcaster DD National took to the micro-blogging site, to share the reel life Lord Ram’s appeal to his fans. He has asked citizens to follow the lockdown orders with sanyam (patience) and sankalp (resolution), as also advised by the Prime Minister. He appealed to stay at home and follow all the guidelines laid down by Prime Minister Narendra Modi amidst the Coronavirus outbreak.

Arun Govil advised people to take all the necessary precautions, like regularly washing and sanitising hands, staying isolated and not coming in contact with a lot of people and following the social distancing advise, the key to keeping ourselves safe from contracting the infection.

In his 1.35 minutes video, Arun Govil assures citizens that if the guidelines laid by the government in followed en masse, then India will, within no time, overcome this pandemic.

Last week, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting (IB) had informed that Ramanand Sagar’s iconic show based on Hindu Epic Ramayan will be retelecasted on DD National twice a day from March 28 in the wake of Wuhan coronavirus lockdown. One episode of the show will air in the morning between 9 am to 10 am while the other will be broadcast at night between 9 pm to 10 pm.

Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayana was a 1987 television series that dramatised the great epic and was a massive hit at the time.

As the first episode of Ramayan went live on March 28, Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayana on Doordarshan became the top search on Google in India with several people presumably either trying to find out what time the series would begin or trying to find an online link to watch the show.

Not only did Ramayan on Doordarshan become the top search on Google, the Doordarshan website where one could watch the channel live online crashed due to high traffic. Even on Social networking site Twitter, four trends in the top 10 trends pertained to Ramayan, Ramanand Sagar, Lord Ram and Doordarshan.

Growing up in the 80s and the 90s, one of the fondest memories is of watching Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan and B R Chopra’s Mahabharat on Doordarshan. The roads would go empty as the nation saw Arun Govil as Lord Ram and Nitish Bharadwaj as Lord Krishna. Now that the streets have gone empty again, thanks to the Chinese Wuhan Coronavirus, even in the age of Netflix and Amazon Prime, Ramayan and Mahabharat still capture the country’s interest.

Rajasthan: Mass gathering at Sarwar Dargah despite lockdown orders, 6 persons arrested after clashes with police

OpIndia Staff
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Rajasthan: Mass gathering at Sarwar Dargah despite lockdown orders, 6 persons arrested after clashes with police

Amidst news of the Tablighi Jamat congregation working as a ‘super-spreader’ of coronavirus in the country, it is reported that over a hundred people had gathered in a Rajasthan Dargah for a religious procession in Sarwar town in Ajmer district on Tuesday despite lockdown orders.

As per a report in the New Indian Express, the police used mild force to disperse the crowd. Six people have been arrested by the police for violating the lockdown. According to the tradition, a chadar is offered every year by the Khadims of Ajmer dargah of Sufi saint Moinuddin Chisti to the dargah in Sarwar.

SP Kunwar Rastradeep of Ajmer said that the police allowed only five persons to take part in the procession but later many others joined them Sarwar dargah. Eventually, about 100 people had gathered in the procession despite lockdown orders.

Several objected and confronted the police when they were warned to vacate the place. Later, police dispersed them using mild force and arrested six persons under 151 (arrest to prevent cognizable offenses) of the Criminal Procedure Code.

It came at a time when the authorities are tracing people in every corner of the country who attended a huge religious gathering in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area last month. There were about 1,746 people staying in Hazrat Nizamuddin Markaz as of March 21. Out of them 441 have symptoms of COVID-19 and 1107 under quarantine. While 24 cases have tested positive.

Bullets in Bihar, stone-pelting in Gujarat: Police face challenges in locating Tablighi Jamaatis

OpIndia Staff
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Bullets in Bihar, stone-pelting in Gujarat: Police face challenges in locating Tablighi Jamaatis

Police personnel in Madhubani, Bihar, were fired upon when they went to search for Tablighi Jamaat attendees after Delhi’s Nizamuddin emerged as the new hotspot for the deadly Chinese virus. Three people are arrested in this regard. As per Times Now report, stones were pelted and bullets were fired on policemen. In similar incident, police team was attacked in Ahmedabad’s Gomtipur area when the police reached to search for Delhi’s Tablighi Jamaatis.

As per online portal DeshGujarat, the stonepelters were identified and two were detained. The situation is now under control.

In yet another shocking act of deliberate violation of lockdown, a Muslim mob in Gidarganj village in Andharatharhi block of Madhubani district, Bihar not only collected to offer mass prayers (Namaz) but also attacked and pelted stones at the police, who went there to stop them from doing so.

On Tuesday, the police received the information that over 100 Muslims have been staying in a Mosque in the locality. When the police reached the Mosque, locals attacked the police personnel. They started to pelt stones at the policemen. The policemen were chased for almost a kilometre by the unruly mob, who, in the fit of rage, also overturned a police van into a pond. Using this situation to their advantage, the Muslim congregation, who were illegally hiding in the Mosque, managed to flee away.

Though according to eyewitnesses, there was firing from both sides, SP Satyaprakash has negated the claim.

The Islamic religious event was being organised at the mosque located near the house of the RJD block president and former chief of Madna Panchayat located in Andhratharhi Tehsil of Madhubani district, Ojera Khatoon. Allegedly, this mosque, where few Islamic foreigners were also hiding, is maintained by the RJD block president and Madna villages’ former chief.

The police, on receiving information that people have gathered at the mosque located in the Madna village, reached the mosque and urged the Muslims to abide by the lockdown orders and vacate the Mosque. However, the Muslims, not paying any heed to the requests, started arguing with the police and suddenly unleashed themselves on them. The policemen also retaliated in self-defence. One villager and the Circle officer (CO) have reportedly been injured in the ensuing brawl.

According to reports, Gidarganj village in Andharathadhi block of Madhubani district, Bihar is a Muslim dominated locality. Many attackers from the village have reportedly fled after this incident, however, the name of one Mohammad Muswa has emerged as one of the prime suspects. Muswa is allegedly a close aide of the RJD block president and Madna villages’ former chief, Ojera Khatoon.

Moreover, the village is split into two factions, one headed by a person named Wasim and the second one is headed by one Kamrujumma. The faction headed by Wasim had reportedly informed the police that the Muslim mob headed by Kamrujumma are planning to organise the event at the Mosque, following which the police reached the area. According to the gathered information, police believe that the attack was a pre-planned one. The attackers had stocked up stones and bricks on the roof of the buildings in the area and had been waiting to attack the police personnel.

The police have now registered an FIR against these unknown miscreants. All are absconding at the moment but will be arrested soon and sent to jail, confirmed the police, saying that no one will be allowed to violate the lockdown rule.

Despite repeated attempts by the police to dissuade Muslims from marching towards the mosques, many Muslims have been ignoring police’s appeals and have instead been creating a ruckus after police tried to impede them from assembling at mosques in the view of the surging coronavirus cases in the country.

In a similar incident, a Muslim mob, on March 26, not only assembled at a local mosque in Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh but also attacked the policemen for asking to avoid mass prayers (namaz) in the view of nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Recently, the Tablighi Jamaat – a religious event held on March 21 in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area by the Muslim organisation, has turned out to be an epicentre of the Chinese coronavirus transmission in the country. The event has now sparked off a huge scare as most of the attendees have reportedly spread the Chinese virus across the country.

Maulana Saad, head of the Markaz decided to vacate the masjid only after the intervention of NSA Ajit Doval: Reports

OpIndia Staff
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Maulana Saad, head of the Markaz decided to vacate the masjid only after the intervention of NSA Ajit Doval: Reports

It has been reported that Maulana Saad, head of Nizamuddin Markaz and other Muslims living inside the Nizamuddin Dargah did not vacate the virus-infected locality on Delhi police’s request, resulting in Home Minister Amit Shah deploying NSA Ajit Doval.

Citing unnamed top Home Ministry officials, the Hindustan Times report says that NSA Doval reached around 2.00 am on March 28-29 night at the Markaz and convinced Maulana Saad to get the occupants to be tested for the COVID-19 infection and be quarantined.

According to the reports, Maulana Saad, head of Nizamuddin Markaz, had refused to yield to pleas from Delhi Police and security agencies to vacate the Banglewali Masjid. As the controversial imam did not move an inch, NSA Doval had to reach the spot to convince the Muslims to vacate the mosque. Maulana Saad is now absconding and untraceable as per Delhi Police.

Shockingly, Shah and Doval knew about the situation after the security agencies had tracked down the nine test positive Indonesians at Karimnagar, in Telangana, to the March on March 18 itself. The security agencies had sent an alert on the Markaz infection the very next day to all state police and subsidiary offices.

However, no effective action to vacate the Markaz was taken by the Union Home Ministry hinting at the glaring security lapse in the national capital. Now the authorities have initiated a nation-wide hunt to trace all those who had attended the event and others they had come in contact with.

There were 216 foreign nationals in the Markaz in Delhi but there are over 800 more in different parts of the country. Most of them are nationals of Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh. On Tuesday, the Home Ministry has blacklisted these 800 Islamic preachers for violating visa rules by visiting India on a tourist visa and attended the Islamic religious conference organised by the “Tablighi Jamaat”. The preachers were found staying at the Banglewali Masjid, the Mosque near the Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah in Delhi, earlier this month.

Since January, the Home Ministry has said, about 2,000 foreigners have attended the Markaz congregation. The initial reports indicated almost all of them violated their visa conditions by entering India on visas for tourists, not missionaries. They will be blacklisted from entering the country again.

Meanwhile, the Delhi police have registered FIR against Tablighi Jamaat preacher Maulana Saad and other members of the outfit under section 3 of The Epidemic Diseases Act (1897) for organizing the congregation at the times of severe lockdown amidst the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak.

Coronavirus: Authorities begin a ‘manhunt’ to trace Tablighi Jamaat attendees as Nizamuddin’s Markaz emerges as hotspot for COVID-19, countrywide raids underway

OpIndia Staff
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Coronavirus: Authorities begin a ‘manhunt’ to trace Tablighi Jamaat attendees as Nizamuddin’s Markaz emerges as hotspot for COVID-19, countrywide raids underway

After New Delhi’s Nizamuddin emerged as the latest hotspot after dozens of country-wide COVID-19 positive cases were traced back to the Tablighi Jamaat, the authorities have started a ‘manhunt’ to trace all the attendees who had participated so that they could be quarantined and their contact tracing could be established. Many of the foreign nationals who had attended the event were found ‘hiding’ in mosques at various parts of the country.

The Tablighi Jamat conference was held in March and was attended by over 2,000 delegates, including Islamic preachers from foreign countries. The police swung into action to identify such people who attended the conference and either returned to their native towns or visited other parts of the country after there were reports of the death of nine people – six in Telangana and one each in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Jammu and Kashmir after attending the Hazrat Nizamuddin event.

As per information, as many as 157 people from 19 districts of the state had attended the event at Nizamuddin between March 13 and 15 and later came in contact with foreign delegates in a conference.

Seven Indonesian nationals and two Indians were traced by Allahabad Police. The Indonesian nationals were found at the Abdullah mosque in Prayagraj. Along with them Indonesian nationals, 28 others who had come in contact with them have also been quarantined, ANI reported.

Earlier in the day, Lucknow Police Commissioner Sujit Pandey had said that 18 residents of Lucknow, who had participated in Nizamuddin Markaz event in Delhi, have not returned back to the city. Addition to that, 24 foreigners who came to Lucknow after participating in the event have been admitted at Balrampur Hospital, he added.

Similarly, ten people who had arrived in Poonch district, Jammu and Kashmir after attending Tablighi Jamaat in Delhi’s Nizamuddin have been identified by District Administration. They all have been kept under quarantine. Shockingly, all the 43 patients who had tested positive for COVID-19 in Andhra Pradesh had contracted the Chinese virus at the event at Delhi’s Nizamuddin Markaz.

In a similar raid, eight Indonesian Muslims were found by the UP police from Jamunwali mosque in Bijnor. They too had visited the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi’s Nizamuddin. Similarly, 10 Muslims of foreign nationality were found in a mosque in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra. 

A few days back, eleven foreign Islamic clerics (Maulvis) were nabbed from the Rargaon Mosque in the Tamar area of ​​Ranchi amidst the threat of Chinese coronavirus. Three Maulvis from China, three from Kazakhstan and four others from Kyrgyzstan were hiding in the mosque.

Before that, 12 foreign nationals were found hiding in a mosque in Patna, Bihar. The Muslim belonging to foreign countries had hidden in the Mosque with the help of a few local Muslims. These people were reportedly hiding, fearing medical examination and quarantine amidst the coronavirus outbreak. The incident had created a scare across the country.

Meanwhile, the Delhi government and police have evacuated 2,361 persons from the Nizamuddin Markaz that is believed to have been the epicentre of COVID-19 infections in the country. Several cases of COVID-19 in Delhi as well as in other states have been traced to a congregation held there last month. Many state governments are trying to trace the people who returned after attending the event.

Islamists who organised anti-CAA ‘protests’ stand in solidarity with Tablighi Jamaat super-spreaders, demand FIR be revoked calling it ‘Islamophobia’

OpIndia Staff
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Islamists who organised anti-CAA ‘protests’ stand in solidarity with Tablighi Jamaat super-spreaders, demand FIR be revoked calling it ‘Islamophobia’

As hundreds of cases of COVID-19 with the history of their visit to the congregation organised by Tablighi Jamaat emerge from various parts of the country, sending authorities scrambling to contain the extent of the spread of the contagion, Jamia Coordination Committee and ‘Muslim Students of JNU’- a Facebook page once operated by the mastermind of Shaheen Bagh protest, Sharjeel Imam, have come to defend the Jamaat as it faces the wrath of the authorities for organising a large gathering and providing a breeding ground for the virus to spawn.

The Delhi Police had yesterday registered FIR against Tablighi Jamaat preacher Maulana Saad and other members of the outfit under section 3 of The Epidemic Diseases Act (1897) for organizing the congregation at the times of severe lockdown amidst the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak.

The event which gave rise to the numerous positive cases of coronavirus across states was organized in the mid-march. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday claimed that 1,548 people were evacuated from the Markaz Tablighi Jamaat over the past three days. Out of these, 441 people were found with the symptoms of COVID-19 and have been isolated at the hospitals while others are quarantined.

In support of Tablighi Jamaat, the ‘Muslim Students of JNU’ uploaded an image on its Facebook page, expressing solidarity with the Jamaat and demanding cancellation of FIR filed against the Jamaat management. The Facebook page which was once handled by Sharjeel Imam, who advocated the secession of the NE states from India and incited communal passions, also tried to cast the delinquent management of Jamaat as victims by accusing the government of being ‘Islamophobic’ for initiating action against them.

Facebook post uploaded by ‘Muslim Students of JNU’

In addition, the ‘Jamia Coordination Committee’, an unofficial body that was also involved in organising anti-CAA protests in Delhi, also jumped in to defend the criminal acts of Tablighi Jamaat. The Committee took to Twitter to release a detailed statement, voicing their disapproval against the action initiated against the fundamentalist group. Defending the Muslim clerics of Jamaat who were found spitting out on roads while they were being transported to the treatment centres, the JCC ascribed the punitive measures taken against them to “bigotry and Islamophobic fantasies of the government”.

In the press note released by the JCC, the group passes the buck for the prolong and cramped stay of Muslim clerics in Nizamuddin to the central and Delhi state government, stating that the call for a lockdown by the government diminished the chances of these visitors availing transport for their journey back home.

Read: Anti-Hindu Delhi Riots: Jamia Coordination Committee’s extensive campaign in riot-affected areas and Sharjeel Imam’s possible link

Defending the congregation and their subsequent stay at Markas Nizamuddin, the statement read, “Suddenly on the evening of 23rd March, a further nationwide lockdown was announced by the Honourable Prime Minister with an explicit message for people to stay-put wherever they are. Under such compelling circumstances, there was no option for Markas Nizamuddin but to accommodate the stranded visitors with prescribed medical precautions till such time that situation becomes conducive for their movement or arrangement are made by the authorities.”

JCC went on to vindicate Markas of any wrongdoing, claiming that “Markas never violated any provision of law, and always tried to act with compassion and reason towards visitors who came to Delhi from different states. It did not let them violate any medical guidelines by thronging ISBTs or roaming on the streets.”

However, JCC’s statement doesn’t explain why the Muslim clerics in Jamaat who exhibited symptoms of COVID-19 deliberately spit out on roads, thereby aggravating the threat of coronavirus in the national capital. The JCC has also failed to elaborate that if the Muslim evangelists who visited the Markas Nizamuddin were diligently abiding by the medical precautions and government advisories, why some of them have been found hiding in mosques across several states, instead of undertaking self-quarantine?

Though the nation-wide lockdown came on 24 March, the Delhi government had already banned the gathering of more than 50 persons at one place back on 16 March. Before that, it had prohibited all sports gatherings, including IPL matches, as well as conferences and seminars having 200 or more people back on 13 March.

This is a typical modus operandi used by Islamist organisations. When their co-religionists are called out for their patently criminal and catastrophic activities, they quickly rush to their defence by accusing the dispensation of exhibiting anti-Muslim bigotry and painting the transgressors as victims to garner sympathy. By employing this two-pronged approach, such organisations try to extenuate the culprits by engendering a sympathy wave for them while reinforcing their propaganda.

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