Delhi minorities panel wants release of Jamaat members after quarantine

The Delhi Minorities Commission has written to Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain, asking that the Tablighi Jamaat members be allowed to go free after their completion of the mandated quarantine period.

New Delhi: The Delhi Minorities Commission has asked the Delhi Health Minister allow the Tablighi Jamaat members to go free after their completion of the mandated quarantine period.

The Delhi Minorities Commission has written to Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain saying that the people brought to quarantine camps from the Markaz in Nizamuddin will complete 28 days on Monday which is twice the mandatory period for Covid-19 suspects' quarantine as per WHO guidelines.

This means that these people are being unnecessarily kept in detention when 14 days is the longest period for the appearance of coronavirus symptoms in an infected person. People in other quarantine centres have been allowed to go home after 14 days if they tested negative, said the letter written by Zafrul Islam Khan, Chairman of the commission.

"It will be in the fitness of things that all such people who have spent 28 days in these camps and did not test positive should be allowed to go home or at least allowed to live somewhere else in Delhi while the lockdown continues," added Khan.

The Commission in its letter stated that there are thousands of inmates at present in Covid-19 quarantine camps across Delhi like Sultanpuri, Wazirabad, Narela and Dwarka etc. Supply of food and medical care is not satisfactory in these camps. The quarantined people include the elderly as well as those with health issues like diabetes and heart problems.

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Two of them, who were diabetic, died in recent days in Sultanpuri camp due to inadequate medical care and failure to supply medicines and food in time, he said.

The Commission added in its letter that this is the month of fasting, Ramzan, and most of the Muslim inmates in these camps are fasting. Under the conditions prevailing in the quarantine centres, they are finding it hard to cope with the harsh life in these camps.

The Commission said that keeping these people in detention for more than twice the mandatory quarantine period is creating ill-will in the Muslim community and may lead to court cases.

It has issued a notice to the District Magistrate North in this respect. On knowing that the situation did not improve in the Wazirabad camp even on Sunday, the Commission has sent a second notice to District Magistrate North directing the DM to personally supervise the supply of the essentials, especially in-time provision of adequate food to the inmates.

IANS