Identification of attendees at Markaz Nizamuddin: Gujarat HC seeks status report from state, centre

In case it is a foreign national, details including nationality, purpose of their visit and nature of visas for those foreign nationals should also be sought, the court said.

From the state government, the HC has sought a status report that will include details shared by the Centre with the state government and the steps taken by the Gujarat government with regard to identifying those individuals who attended the congregation. In case a said person is untraceable, the high court has directed the state to give details of the same too.

The state government submitted that it is “already in the process of identifying and tracing not only the members of the said congregation having travelled to Gujarat but also the details of the other persons coming in close contact with the said members.”

Advocate General Kamal Trivedi, however, also submitted that “Gujarat does not have complete information of all the members who were participants in the said congregation and then travelled to Gujarat,” and that the state government is working on the same on the “basis of the partial information”.

DGP Shivanand Jha said that until now, based on the list received from the central government and technical data, 72 such persons have been identified including one who died earlier. The other 71 people are in quarantine.

The Assistant Solicitor General, representing the Centre, submitted before the court that details of Tablighi Jamaat workers across the country are being gathered and compiled.

“However, the said exercise is dependent on the co-operation and accurate details being given by Tablighi Jamaat headquarters in New Delhi and as and when the same is available, the same would be shared with the concerned State immediately,” the Assistant Solicitor General informed the court.

It was also submitted that around 2,000 foreign preachers of the sect entered India on tourist visas as against missionary visas, the latter of which, according to the ASG, “are location and event specific and entail thorough scrutiny.”

The court has warned that “in the event the report as required to be submitted by the previous order of 27th March, 2020 and as directed by this order are not found to be satisfactory on the next date of hearing, the court will issue necessary directions and may proceed to take such coercive measures as may be deemed appropriate.”