Holding that there was no material on record that they were either engaged in Tablighi work nor did they contribute to the spread of the Covid-19 virus, the Bombay High court has quashed the FIRs registered by the Nagpur police against eight Myanmarese nationals who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat Markaz in Delhi in March this year.
While quashing the FIR registered and charge-sheet filed against eight Myanmarese nationals before a Nagpur court for contributing to the spread of Covid-19 and preaching religious ideology or making speeches in religious places, a Nagpur division bench comprising Justice V. M. Deshpande and Justice A. B. Borkar virtually pulled up the Nagpur police for registering an offence against the accused as “an abuse of process of law”
“In the backdrop of the exposition of the aforesaid position, we are of the considered view that the implication of the applicants herein for the offences punishable under Sections 188, 269, 270 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 14 of the Foreigners Act, Section 3 of the Epidemic Disease Act, 1987 and Section 51 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 would be an abuse of process of law. Compelling the applicants to undergo the trial would cause grave injustice,” the two judges noted.
“We, therefore, deem it appropriate to quash the F.I.R. bearing No. 178/2020 and charge-sheet bearing registration No. 6076/2020 before the Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Nagpur against the accused in the case under various provisions of law,” the Nagpur HC bench ruled.
In a virtual slap on the face of the police, the HC bench observed: “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”.
“The above statements make it clear that there is no material produced by the prosecution to prove that the applicants were engaged in tabligh work and they were involved in preaching religious ideology or making speeches in religious places,” the two judges observed.
The HC bench also pulled up for acting against the eight Myanmarese nationals “without jurisdiction in registering the F.I.R. under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code based on a complaint of police”. “The investigation conducted by the police was also without jurisdiction,” the two Judges observed.
In their petition, the Myanmarese nationals had stated that they landed in Kolkata on March 2, left for Delhi, and after attending the Markaz there, reached Nagpur on March 6 for their further activities and lived in the Gittikhadan area of the second capital of Maharashtra till March 21.
In view of the Janata Curfew of March 22, they were shifted to a Markaz in Mominpura, 10 days later sent to institutional quarantine where their Covid-19 tests were negative.
During the quarantine period, on April 5, they were placed under arrest under provisions of the Foreigners Act, the Disaster Management Act, and the Epidemic Diseases Act.
The Nagpur police charged with violating Visa rules by “propagating and preaching” their religion, spreading Covid-19 and not complying with the orders of a public servant, among other things.
Advocate J. H. Aloni, appearing for the Myanmar nationals, contended that the police were monitoring all their activities and they did not violate any laws as alleged by the prosecution, led by Additional Public Prosecutor V. A. Thakare.
The HC bench held that compelling the Myanmarese nationals to undergo trial for the offences listed by the police would cause “grave injustice”, and hence quashed the FIR lodged against them.
The quashing of FIR registered and chargesheet filed against eight Myanmarese nationals is the second similar verdict delivered by the Bombay High Court. Earlier, the Aurangabad Bench delivered by Justice T. V Nalawade and Justice M. G. Sewlikar had on August 21 quashed FIRs against 29 foreigners and 6 Indians who attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in New Delhi in March.