Ten Indonesians who had attended Tablighi event get bail

Mumbai, May 8 (PTI) Ten Indonesian nationals, arrested

for not disclosing that they had attended the Tablighi Jamat gathering in Delhi which turned out to be a coronavirus hotspot, were granted bail by a court here on Friday.

The applicants, which included six women, are all members of the Islamic organisation Tablighi Jamat and had attended its meet at Nizamuddin Markaz in Delhi in March.

The group arrived in Mumbai later, but allegedly did not inform the authorities about their participation in the event and thus avoided quarantine.

The city police subsequently tracked them down. They were quarantined and arrested after their isolation period was over.

The applicants moved sessions court after failing to get bail from a court in suburban Bandra.

The holy month of Ramazan was underway and there were no proper facilities in jail for pre-dawn meal and post- fasting Iftar meal, their bail applications said.

Moreover, the government misused the police machinery by arresting them under IPC sections 304 (culpable homicide) and 307 (attempt to murder) without any evidence, the plea said.

All ten of them had tested negative for coronavirus and there was no need to arrest them, it said.

Accepting the plea, the court granted them bail.

According to the police, while the accused arrived in Mumbai on March 7, they began to live in an apartment in Bandra area only on March 29, implying that they had been roaming around for 22 days.

They were part of a 12-member group, and as two of them tested positive for coronavirus, others were put in 20-day isolation and arrested on April 22.