E-Paper
34 Jamaatis quarantined in Moradabad, Maharajganj
Over 100 booked under Foreigners Act in Meerut region.
As many as 13 people who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat at the Markaz in Nizamuddin in Delhi were picked up from a mosque in Barwalan area in Moradabad on Wednesday.
Superintendent of police (SP) City Amit Kumar Anand, said, “They are all from Assam. They will be placed under quarantine.”
“Police were informed about these people and their primary test has been conducted. Investigation will also be conducted,” he added.
In Gorakhpur region, over 21 people from Maharajganj district who attended the Tablighi Jamat at Delhi’s Markaz on March 18 and 19 have been identified by the district administration and quarantined in Maharajganj’s Women Hospital. Their samples have been sent for testing and the list of their names sent to the state Government for further action.
The 21 men had already isolated themselves at home. Gorakhpur district magistrate Ujjawal Kumar said “ Twenty-one people, including 15 elderly , who returned on March 21 from Delhi’s Markaz after attending Tablighi Jamat have been quarantined. Their swabs have been sent for testing.”
Several state governments are tracing and identifying all those who attended the gathering. A large number of people in different states have already been placed under quarantine as a precautionary measure.
Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh government has identified as many as 569 people who attended the congregation at the Markaz in New Delhi early this month along with 218 foreign nationals suspected of being infected by Sars-Cov-2 Covid 19 and quarantined.
UP Police identified 218 foreign nationals, who had come to Uttar Pradesh at different stages on tourist visas but some of these foreigners joined the Jamaat. Police have seized the passports of these foreigners and have got them quarantined. Along with this, they are being investigated. The police have also filed an FIR against people who provided shelter to foreigners.
OVER 100 BOOKED
Cases under Foreigners Act have been registered against over a hundred religious preachers in different districts of Meerut region and presently they have been kept under quarantine.
In Meerut district, cases under Section 14 b of the Foreigners Act have been registered against 19 preachers who came from Sudan, Djibouti, Kenya and Indonesia and stayed in mosques of Sardhana and Mawana towns.
SP (Rural) of Meerut Avinash Pandey said, “Initially they violated the visa rules. They came here on tourist visa and got involved in religious activities in violation of visa rules”. Besides, they didn’t inform the local intelligence office about their arrival in the city and their guides hid their movement from authorities, which was also violation of Foreigners Act, he said.
The SP said cases had been registered against preachers from abroad under Section 14 b of Foreigners Act and under Section 14C against their local guides. He said that the state and Union governments had issued guidelines about foreign preachers on Thursday.
Cops also confiscated passports of these foreign preachers, which would be case property during investigation.
Presently all these preachers and their local guides are under quarantine and their samples have been sent for corona test.
In Saharanpur, cops have lodged 6 FIRs against 57 religious preachers who came from Indonesia, Sudan, Kazakistan and other countries and were involved in missionary activities in violation of visa rules. “We have lodged cases against them under Foreigners Act and investigation will be conducted against them”, said SSP of Saharanpur Dinesh Kumar P.
District authorities of Shamli, Hapur and Bulandshahr districts also registered cases against nine foreign religious preachers from Thailand, eight from Bangladesh and 17 from Indonesia and Bangladesh in their respective districts.
