Full text of Bombay HC judgment quashing FIRs against foreigners at Tablighi Jamaat event

The Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court Friday quashed FIRs filed in connection with a Tablighi Jamaat congregation held in Delhi amid the Covid-19 restrictions in late March, and said they had been made “scapegoat”.

“A political Government tries to find the scapegoat when there is pandemic or calamity and the circumstances show that there is probability that these foreigners were chosen to make them scapegoats,” observed a division bench of Justices T.V.



Nalawade and M.G. Sewlikar.

Quashing the FIRs filed against 29 foreigners who had attended the event, the judges said it will be “abuse of process of law if the petitioners are directed to face the trial” in the cases.

The court also quashed FIRs against six Indian nationals and the trustees of masjids accused of giving shelter to the foreigners, and slammed the print and electronic media for the “big propaganda” against the Tablighi Jamaat members.