Delhi court grants bail to 200 Indonesian Tablighi Jamaat attendees
Jul 15, 2020
New Delhi [India], July 15 : A Delhi court on Wednesday granted bail to 200 foreign nationals from Indonesia, who participated in the Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Nizamuddin, which became an epicentre of COVID-19 across the country.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Gurmohina Kaur granted bail to the foreign nationals on furnishing personal bonds of Rs 10,000 each. Advocates Ashima Mandla, Mandakini Singh and Fahim Khan appeared for the Indonesian nationals.
Plea bargaining application will be filed by Thursday in this regard, the lawyers said.
Plea bargaining is an arrangement between the prosecutor and the defendant, in which the accused pleads guilty to a lesser charge in exchange for a lenient sentence or an agreement to drop other charges.
Nationals from Indonesia today appeared before the court through video conferencing in pursuance of the summons issued against them.
The court had recently taken cognisance of the various chargesheets filed in the Jamaat congregation case against 956 foreign nationals from several countries. They have been duly identified by the concerned officials as well as the investigating officer (IO).
According to Delhi Police, the investigation related to the 956 foreign nationals is complete in the case and each of the foreign national has been found to have independently committed the offence for which he or she has been chargesheeted.
The IO categorically specified that no evidence has come against the foreign nationals concerned under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and hence they have not been chargesheeted for the abovesaid offences.
Delhi Police said that the chargesheet against the Indonesian nationals has been filed under relevant Sections of the Foreigners Act, 1946, the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, the Disaster Management Act, 2005, and the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which are independent of the other offences which were added during the investigation of the source FIR.
