Tablighi Jamat chief Maulana Saad has completed the 14-day quarantine and got himself tested for coronavirus disease Covid-19, his lawyer Fuzail Ayyubi
“He has completed his quarantine and undergone a test. The report is awaited,” said Ayyubi.
When asked if Maulana Saad is going to present himself to the police for questioning, his lawyer said, “The Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) does not ask someone to go and present himself that ‘ok, here I am’. There are steps to be taken by the police, and those steps have already been taken even during his quarantine.”
“His house was searched in the presence of his son. He got two notices and he responded to those notices. He was asked to undergone the test, and he has undergone the test,” Ayyubi added.
He also said that Maulana Saad is communicating with the authorities.
In an earlier interview to Hindustan Times, the Tablighi chief had told through his lawyer that he is willing to cooperate with the police, and that no illegal activity took place at the group’s markaz (centre), which is the biggest Covid-19 hotspot in India.
“Markaz Nizamuddin is basically a masjid namely Bangle Wali Masjid, where normal religious sermons are given on a daily basis throughout the year. Being a masjid, I don’t think there is any requirement to seek permission to give sermons or to have other religious discourses within the building,” he had said.
Maulana Saad also said in his response that it’s unfortunate that a few members have tested Covid-19 positive, but an overwhelming majority of the group’s members tested negative too. “Does that make Markaz responsible for the disease?”
Police had filed a criminal case against Maulana Saad and six other top officials of the Jamaat on March 31 for defying a series of government directives, which curbed religious and large gatherings, issued to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease Covid-19 in the national capital.
Delhi Police officers, requesting anonymity, had confirmed to Hindustan Times that they had added Section 304 in the FIR against Maulana Saad. Section 304 of the IPC, related to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, is a stringent section, unlike the other sections of Epidemic Diseases Act which had been levied in the FIR initially.
His family haa, however said that the Tablighi Jamaat chief can join investigation on a three-day notice.
