Why were foreign Tablighi Jamaat attendees not deported if visas were cancelled: SC asks Centre

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre to ascertain if visas of about 2500 members of Tablighi Jamat from 35 countries were cancelled after they attended the Nizamuddin Markaz event in Delhi in March.

A bench of A M Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna sought to know if there was a general direction for cancellation of visas and blacklisting them or if an order was passed in each individual case.

Read: MHA blacklists 2,550 foreign Tablighi Jamaat members, bans entry into India for 10 years

The court also asked the Union government to clarify why these foreign attendees had not been deported if their visas were cancelled.

After posing these queries, the court posted a batch of petitions filed by Maulana Ala Hadrami and others, including a pregnant woman, for consideration on July 2.

Senior advocate C U Singh, appearing for the petitioners, contended that no individual order was passed or served on cancellation of visas but a general press note was issued.

The Ministry of Home Affairs had on April 2 and June 4, blacklisted 2500 people for 10 years from travelling to the country for participating in Tablighi Jamat activities.

Also Read: Pleas in SC against blacklisting of over 3,500 foreigners for alleged Tablighi activities

Hadrami, a resident of Indonesia, said subsequent seizing of their passports without hearing them out was an affront not only to their right to life and liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution but also to the rudimentary principle of natural justice.

The petitioners asked the court to declare the move as arbitrary and unconstitutional, reinstate their visas and allow them to return to their respective countries.

Over thousands of members, including foreigners, participated in Tablighi Jamat in Nizamuddin in Delhi in March. Hundreds of them were subsequently found to be infected with the coronavirus.

Track live updates on coronavirus here