A plea has been filed in the Delhi High Court seeking direction to the authorities to comply with the guideline of the 14-day quarantine and release nearly 3,300 members of Tablighi Jamaat who have been sent to various quarantine centers for around 40 days and not released despite being reported negative for the pandemic coronavirus.
The petitioner, Sabiha Quadri, a social worker alleged that many people have been illegally lodged in quarantine centers and that several persons who are staying in those centers have written letters to the authorities but they have not been considered. The petition also sought for the constitution of a high-level committee to investigate the death of two members of the organization who died in the quarantine center and further to enquire as to whether continuous confinement of the members is violative of the provisions of the Constitution.
“A total of 3,288 people from Tablighi Jamaat have been put under different quarantine centers and till date none has been released from there, despite the fact that they are not in any manner infected with the disease (coronavirus) and in the case of many members, three consecutive reports with negative endorsement have come,” stated the plea.
On 31st March, after being exposed to a large gathering amid the COVID-19 lockdown, many members of Tablighi Jamaat from Markaz Hazrat Nizamuddin were taken out by the authorities and lodged in different quarantine centers in Delhi. Some of them were sent to the centers a few days later after being detained from various mosques.
Subsequently, on 6th May, the Delhi government said that the Tablighi Jamaat members who have completed mandatory quarantine and show no coronavirus symptoms can go home.
