A narrow lane towards the dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya first leads to a tall nondescript white building before twisting towards the tomb of the famous Sufi saint.
On Thursday evening, as scores of tourists and visitors flocked to the dargah for its famous Qawwali performance, a smaller, more somber group of men assembled in front of the tall white building, awaiting the time for the evening prayers.
This is the Nizamuddin Markaz, also known as the Banglewali Masjid Markaz.
Five years ago, the building was at the centre of a storm after the Tablighi Jamaat was accused of spreading Covid by organising an international congregation in Delhi. On Thursday, the Delhi High Court quashed charges in 16 FIRs and chargesheets filed in related cases involving 70 Indian citizens.
The atmosphere at the Markaz remained almost nonchalant after the verdict. “We are God’s people. We don’t bother with what happens on this earthly plane, we only care about what happens before life and after death,” said one person who wished to remain unidentified.
In March 2020, a series of gatherings had been organised at the Markaz by the Jamaat. Over 3,000-odd people gathered at the mosque for the month-long events, with people coming from across the country and the world.
However, on March 13, the Delhi government passed an order saying that gatherings of over 200 people for sports events, conferences and seminars will not be allowed due to the growing fears of the Covid-19 pandemic. By then, hundreds of people had already reached the Markaz and were accommodated inside.
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By the time the Janata Curfew was declared on March 22, the Markaz was in utter chaos over where to move the hundreds of people stuck inside.
However, a day prior to the Janata Curfew being declared, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had already drawn up a list of 800 foreigners associated with Tablighi activities across the country. According to the MHA, it had received information of a Tablighi-associated Covid patient in Telangana by March 18.
What followed was a rush to track all those who had congregated at Nizamuddin and spread out into the country. Medical screening of those at the Markaz started only on March 26, after the death of a Tablighi-associated Covid patient in Telangana.
When the Delhi government eventually released its Covid health bulletin, it made a separate section indicating how many participants of the Tablighi gathering had tested positive.
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By March 30, the then Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal had ordered an FIR against the organisers.
The 70 named as accused across 16 FIRs were charged primarily under sections of the IPC, including criminal conspiracy, for allegedly accommodating foreign nationals in mosques and their homes during the pandemic from March 24-30, 2020.
The FIRs had also listed 195 foreign nationals but they were not named as accused in most chargesheets — the magistrate court did not take cognizance of the remaining chargesheets on the principle of double jeopardy.
Fuzail Ayyubi, who represented 44 attendants of the Tablighi in the Supreme Court, said, “When amidst a pandemic that no one understood, an entire body of individuals was criminalised as being ‘super-spreaders’ and prosecuted criminally, we were able to see through the facade and know that no criminality could be attached at all. Today’s judgment is a vindication of that belief in law and courts’ adjudicatory role…”
