The Supreme court on Thursday asked the Centre whether the thousands of farmers camping in and around Delhi in protest against the three farm laws over the past many weeks are “protected from Covid”. The court likened the state of affairs to one involving the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in the capital in March last year that went on to become one of the biggest clusters of coronavirus cases.
“This same problem is going to arise during the farmer protest. We do not know if farmers are being protected from Covid. What guidelines have you issued for prevention of such things,” remarked a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde.
The bench, which also comprised Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, “Have you learnt from your experience in handling this [Jamaat] event? Have you found out how it happened?”
Mehta, who appeared for the Centre, told the bench that the investigation into the Jamaat gathering was still on by the Delhi Police He added Covid-19 guidelines with regard to large gatherings were in place and sought two weeks to file a reply.
The remarks were made during the hearing of a public interest litigation by Jammu-based lawyer Supriya Pandita for a CBI probe into the Jamaat gathering. The petition underlined the need for guidelines to prevent such events from creating harm to public health at the time of the pandemic.
{{/usCountry}}The remarks were made during the hearing of a public interest litigation by Jammu-based lawyer Supriya Pandita for a CBI probe into the Jamaat gathering. The petition underlined the need for guidelines to prevent such events from creating harm to public health at the time of the pandemic.
{{/usCountry}}Pandita’s lawyer, OP Parihar, cited the Jamaat gathering and added the group’s chief Maulana Saad has not been arrested yet. The bench said it is not interested in one person. “We are interested in ensuring Covid guidelines are prepared and implemented.”
The PIL alleged negligence on part of the Delhi Government and Centre in allowing a mass gathering of Tablighi Jamaat members to assemble in the Capital. The petition demanded that an independent probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation alone would indicate the administrative lapses.
Pandita in her petition stated, “Ignoring all social distancing norms to avoid the deadly coronavirus, hundreds had been staying in the 100-year-old mosque since March 8 last year. More than 2,000 delegates from Malaysia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Kyrgyzstan attended the congregation of Tablighi Jamaat.”
The area where the event took place was sealed on March 30, 2020.
Pandita said that “cluster transmission” of the virus took place as at least 16,500 people visited Tablighi Jamaat’s headquarters in Nizamuddin between March 13 and 24. The area was sealed by the police on March 30.
In June 2020, the Ministry of Home Affairs filed an affidavit in the apex court stating that all efforts were being made by the Delhi Police to complete the probe into the case. It rejected the request of the petitioner to entrust the probe to the CBI. Although the matter was heard by the Court since May 2020, notice on the petition was issued only on Thursday.