Tablighis who misbehaved with nurses to be charged under NSA

The Yogi Adityanath government on Friday announced that the members of the Tablighi Jamaat, who reportedly misbehaved with the female nursing staff in a Ghaziabad hospital, would be booked under the National Security Act (NSA).

Reacting to the incident, CM Yogi said: “They neither follow the law, nor maintain order. They are enemies of humanity. What they have done to the female health workers is a heinous crime for which NSA would be imposed against them. I will not spare them.”

The Uttar Pradesh Government has also directed that women health workers and women police personnel will no longer be deployed to treat and provide security to Tablighi Jamaat people placed under quarantine after the Ghaziabad incident of alleged misbehaviour.

It may be recalled that the Chief Medical Officer of the MMG district hospital in Ghaziabad had written a letter to the Ghaziabad police informing about the criminal behaviour of some six Jamaatis”.

According to the hospital authorities, “the half a dozen members of the Tablighi Jamaat of whom, one was COVID-19 positive, had been kept at the isolation ward of the hospital. They had reportedly been teasing and passing lewd comments at the staff, demanding bidis and cigarettes, moving around and dancing in a semi nude condition in front of female staff and generally not following the staff’s instructions”.

Ghaziabad SSP Kalanidhi Naithani initially lodged a case at the Kotwali police station under various sections of the IPC including 354 (assault or criminal force on woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 294 (punishment for obscene acts), and 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life).

Of the 136 Jamaatis in Ghaziabad who had reportedly attended the Delhi congregation, COVID-19 symptoms were detected in six of them who were admitted to the MMG hospital on March 31.

Terming the Tablighi Jamaat as a factory of new coronavirus, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) said instead of bringing people out of masjids, markaz and madrassas, the Centre and the state governments should isolate and quarantine them there only to prevent the spread of the virus.

In a joint statement, VHP president VS Kokje, VHP international working president Alok Kumar and general secretary Milind Parande said the Delhi meet could potentially foil the very objective of the nationwide lockdown announced with the purpose of checking the spread of coronavirus.

They demanded that the government should cancel visas granted to the clerics who had arrived in India from foreign countries and strict legal action be initiated against them.

The VHP also prescribed cremation for those who died due to COVID-19 without considering their religion.