Coronavirus - Islamic Sect Members Hiding In Assam To Be Charged With Culpable Homicide

Members of the Islamic missionary group Tablighi Jamaat, whose congregation in Delhi last month has set-off the biggest cluster of coronavirus cases in the country, will be charged with culpable homicide unless they come forward for medical screening, the government of Assam said on Monday.

The government has issued a final call to those who attended the congregation last month at the Markaz or headquarters of the Jamaat in Delhi's Nizamuddin to report to the nearest state-run health centre by 6 am on Tuesday or face strict criminal charges.

Many members of the group have avoided contacting authorities even as Assam launched a massive manhunt to locate those who attended the congregation and their contacts.

On Sunday, nine members of Tablighi Jamaat from Maharashtra who were in Assam's Darrang district and did not report to police were detained.

"A crackdown has been launched already. At first, we were looking for 80 people with direct Tablighi links. As we investigated, the names got added to our list and over 380 people were needed to be traced. We will crack down on about 30 people who are hiding. A special cell is working on it. We have even taken help from the Muslim community. We have decided that after our deadline, those who are hiding and intentionally not co-operating will be charged with strong sections like 308 IPC of culpable homicide," Assam police chief Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta told NDTV.

Twenty-five of the 26 COVID-19 positive cases in the state so far are those who either attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Markaz Nizamuddin or came in touch with the attendees.

So far, using cellphone tower tracing, the state government has identified over 800 people who were near the Nizamuddin Markaz during the congregation last month.

Over 300 of them are believed to members of the Tablighi Jamaat and about 30 of them are have completely gone into "hiding", police sources said.

Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who had earlier said that many of the members of the group are not cooperating with the government, sounded bit more optimistic on Monday.

"We had done several meetings with Tablighi Jamaat committee in Assam and we are hopeful that most of the untraceable Tablighis would contact us by this evening failing which we would act legally," Mr Sarma told NDTV.