Coronavirus | Court acquits 20 foreign attendees of Tablighi Jamaat event

A Mumbai court has acquitted 20 foreign attendees of a Tablighi Jamaat event who were booked by the city police for allegedly violating prohibitory orders during the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown.

Metropolitan Magistrate (Andheri) R.R. Khan acquitted the 20 persons on Monday as the prosecution failed to prove the charges against them. “There is no iota of evidence with prosecution to show any contravention of order by accused persons beyond all shadow of doubt,” the court observed.

Keeping in view the evidence on record and facts and circumstances of the matter, it is clear that the order in question was neither publicly promulgated nor brought into notice of the accused persons, the court said. The prosecution witnesses clarified that the accused have not violated the lockdown norms and order of the police commissioner, it noted.