New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday sought responses from the Centre and state governments on a plea challenging blacklisting of Tablighi Jamaat members and their visa cancellation.
A bench comprising Justices A.M. Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna scheduled the matter for further hearing on Monday, and asked the foreign nationals blacklisted to send the copy of their petition to the government.
The court was hearing a PIL filed by Jamaat members who are nationals of Indonesia, Jordan, Fiji, China, Sudan, Tanzania, Myanmar, Nepal and Sri Lanka, and have been blacklisted by Home Ministry and are presently struck in India.
In response to Talbaghi Jamaat incident which reportedly led to a spike in the number of coronavirus cases, the Home Ministry had blacklisted around 2,500 foreigners for violating the government's orders on lockdown.
Challenging the Home Ministry's notification, they contended that the decision was unilateral and they were not issued notice prior to it or given any chance to be heard.
"The petitioners contend that the en masse blacklisting of the aforesaid more than 2,500 foreigners of about 40 different nationalities, currently in India, without affording any opportunity to prima facie defend themselves, is an egregious and blatant violation of Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, in as much as this sudden blacklisting has, apart from registration of FIRs against such foreigners, led to the forfeiture of their passports by State Authorities, thereby resulting in a complete deprivation of their personal liberty sans procedure established by law," read the petition.
The foreigners sought that the Home Ministry's order be declared unconstitutional and void. They also want to be removed from the blacklist and made to return to their countries.
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