Mon 13 July 2020:
A Delhi court on Monday allowed foreign nationals from 14 countries to be released after the payment of fines after they accepted mild charges under the plea bargain process related to various violations including visa norms while attending Tablighi Jamaat congregation.
Foreigners from five countries, however, claimed trial before the court, said the lawyer.
Foreign nationals from Algeria, Belgium, UK, Egypt and the Philippines were released after a fine of Rs, 10,000 each, while five Sudanese nationals and foreigners from China, Morocco, Ukraine, Ethiopia, Fiji, Australia, Brazil, Afghanistan were released after paying a fine of 5,000 each.
They were allowed to walk free after the sub-divisional magistrate of Lajpat Nagar, who was the complainant in the case, additional commissioner of police of Lajpat Nagar and the inspector of Nizamuddin said they have no objection to their plea.
However, two Sudanese nationals, foreigners from Jordan, US, Russia, Kazakhstan and one Overseas Citizen of India from UK did not plead guilty to milder charges and claimed trial, said advocates Ashima Mandla, Mandakini Singh, Fahim Khan and Ahhmed Khan, representing them.
A Delhi court on Monday also granted bail to 85 Kyrgyzstan nationals who were also chargesheeted for attending the Tablighi Jamaat congregation for committing the same offences.
Chief metropolitan magistrate Gurmohina Kaur granted the relief on furnishing personal bond of Rs 10,000 each.
Till date, 532 foreigners from 34 countries, who were chargesheeted in the case, have been granted bail by the court.
The police had in June filed 59 chargesheets, including supplementary ones, against 956 foreigners from 36 different countries in the case.
At least 9,000 people, including the foreign nationals, participated in the religious Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Nizamuddin Markaz. Later, many of the attendees travelled to various parts of the country.
An FIR was registered against Tablighi Jamaat leader Maulana Saad Kandhalvi and six others on March 31 on a complaint of the station house officer of Nizamuddin under sections of the Epidemic Diseases Act, Disaster Management Act (2005), Foreigners Act and other relevant sections of Indian Penal Code.
Kandhalvi was later booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder after some of the attendees of the religious congregation died due to COVID-19, police said.
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