106 foreigners booked for visa violations in Haryana

CHANDIGARH: The Haryana Police have traced 1,305 Tablighi Jamaat workers of which 106 are foreigners from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Philippines, Nepal and Thailand. The police have booked all foreigners for visa violations under provisions of the Foreigners Act and IPC.

The Nuh district in Mewat emerged as the hotbed for the Tablighi missionaries as 636 workers including 57 foreigners and 528 from other states were traced in the district alone.

DGP Manoj Yadava said most of 1,305 were placed under quarantine in various centres. “There are 587 Tablighi Jamaat workers among 1,305 who admitted having visited Banglewali Masjid in Nizamuddin, also known as Markaz. After testing eight persons, three each from Palwal and Nuh and two from Ambala, have tested positive for Covid-19 so far,’’ the DGP said.

PROBE UNDERWAY AGAINST FOREIGNERS

In response to a question of whether the 106 foreigners against who were booked in five districts can be charged with abetment under Section 14-C of the Foreigners Act, the DGP said probe against them were underway. Yadava added that by promptly tracking these highrisk individuals, getting them medically checked and quarantining them has significantly contained the threat of coronavirus spread. The DGP said the 106 foreigners were traced from five districts— Faridabad (28), Ambala (9), Panipat (2), Palwal (10) and Nuh (57). All of them have been quarantined and their passports seized,’’ he said.

ONLY 266 FROM HARYANA

The data shows that 933 Tablighi Jamaat workers belonged to Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Bihar and came to Haryana for Tabligh-related work. Only 266 Tablighis belonged to Haryana. They had visited different states and had returned during the last 10 days to their villages. Since they are also potential carriers of coronavirus, they have also been placed under quarantine. They mostly belonged to districts of Gurugram, Panchkula, Yamunanagar, Panipat, Nuh, Sonepat, Jind and Palwal.

MHA ADVISES LEGAL ACTION

The Union home ministry in a communication to the police has advised that legal action against foreign and Indian nationals involved in Tablighi Jamaat activities should be taken under the provisions of the Foreigners Act as well for violation of statutory orders issued under the Disaster Management Act and for offences committed under the IPC. “They have violated the provisions of Visa Manual, 2019 and are also liable under Sections 13 and 14 of the Foreigners Act,’’ said an April 2 communication sent by the MHA’s foreigners division.

12 MORE DELHI EVENT ATTENDEES TEST +VE

A day after 94 people, who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi’s Nizamuddin last month and were referred to the AIIMS at Jhajjar’s Badsa tested positive, reports of 12 more such people on Friday confirmed the disease, nodal officer for Covid-19 at the hospital said.

Total 120 such attendees were referred to Jhajjar AIIMS from Ram Manohar Lohia hospital in Delhi on Tuesday.