New Delhi: In March 2020, a gathering of Muslim Tablighi Jamaat devotees at the national capital's Nizamuddin Markaz was nationally panned in media and by authorities with the allegation that it had spread the COVID-19 virus through the gathering. Now, the Indian Express has reported that the current investigation officer from the Delhi Police Crime Branch has informed seniors that “nothing objectionable” was found in the speeches of Markaz Nizamuddin head Mohammad Saad Kandhalvi that were recovered from his laptop.

The report comes a month after the Delhi high court on July 17 quashed the chargesheets in 16 cases registered against 70 Indians for allegedly sheltering foreigners who participated in the Tablighi Jamaat congregation.

The Indian Express report notes that on March 31, 2020, an FIR was lodged against Saad and others for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, based on a complaint filed by the then station house officer of the Hazrat Nizamuddin police station. The report says that the SHO in his complaint had alleged that “an audio recording, purportedly by Saad, was found in circulation on WhatsApp on March 21, 2020, in which the speaker was heard asking his followers to defy the lockdown and social distancing, and to attend the religious gathering of the Markaz”.

Citing a senior officer, the Express now reports that the investigation officer of the case has said that an analysis of speeches by Saad – stored in a laptop that had been deposited in the forensic science laboratory – found nothing objectionable in them.

The report notes how a total of 952 foreign nationals, belonging to 36 countries, were chargesheeted. “Forty-eight chargesheets and 11 supplementary chargesheets were filed in the court on May 26, 27 and 28, 2020, and June 19, 2020,” an officer is quoted as having said. Forty four accused foreign nationals opted to face trial, while 908 pleaded guilty and paid fines ranging from Rs 4,000 to Rs 10,000.

While the Tablighi Jamaat congregation was held before India issued any guidelines on public gatherings, with cases rising in India towards the end of March, the scapegoating of this meeting and Muslims at large began.

On April 5, 2020, then health ministry joint secretary Lav Agarwal claimed in his presser that the the doubling rate in India is 4.1 days, and that "had the congregation at Nizamuddin not happened and additional cases not come, this would have been about 7.14 days.” A media attack followed, in which Muslims were falsely and reprehensibly accused of spreading "corona jihad."

Little attention was paid to the fact that just before this gathering, a crowd of over a lakh was organised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad to welcome US president Donald Trump during his first stint.

A report by the Pew Research Centre had put India at the top of its index of COVID-19-related hostilities against certain religious groups by the state or a section of society in 2020.

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