Six foreign Tablighi Jamaat members among the eight jailed in MP

As many as six foreigners were among eight Tablighi Jamaat members arrested and jailed in Sehore district of Madhya Pradesh on Monday over allegations of violating the provisions of the foreigners’ act and the disaster management act.

The arrested foreigners were identified as Khin Maung Zaw,26, Khin Maung Myint,28, Zaw Oo,30, Ye Lin Phyo,25, Thein Lin,27, and Myo Oo,43, all residents of Myanmar. Two Indians, Masiurr Rehman,31, a resident of Jharkhand and Ahmad Husain,70, a resident of Bihar were also arrested.

“These six Jamaat members from Myanmar were in India on a travel visa which was valid for one year from December 2019 to December 2020. They visited Nizamuddin Markaz in February this year, despite the validity of their visa expiring in December 2020 itself,” said Kedar Singh Kaurav, assistant district prosecution officer, Sehore.

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The other two from Jharkhand and Bihar accompanied the foreigners during visits to several mosques in Bhopal and Sehore, Kaurav said.

He added that all the eight Jamaat members violated the district administration’s instruction to stay in quarantine at the Pukhta mosque in Sehore-- where they were found to be staying--and moved around the district meeting people and preaching their religion.

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All of them were arrested on Monday and produced before a court, which sent them to judicial custody.

Several Tablighi Jamaat members were booked for violation of visa conditions and lockdown restrictions after some of them were found to have contracted coronavirus disease while living together in the community headquarters at Nizamuddin, which was also the venue for a large religious congregation held in the middle of March, allegedly in violation of restrictions announced to contain the spread of coronavirus.