Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh): A total of 57 foreign Tablighi Jamaat members who had been imprisoned for over one-and-a-half month in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur, were released on Saturday as per court orders.
The Tablighis, who hail from countries like Kyrgyzstan, Bangladesh, and Thailand, were kept in special cells at the Saharanpur District Jail.
Speaking to ETV Bharat, Jaan Nisar, advocate for the Tablighis, said that the police had picked them up from mosques across the district and imprisoned on April 20 earlier this year.
"The police kept extending their remand via video conferencing, and subsequently filed a chargesheet. But the charges were trumped up," he said.
"The court then heard both sides of the argument. The court found them guilty of charges under Section 188 of the IPC, and Section 3 of the Epidemic Diseases Act. The Tablighis accepted their mistake and asked to be sent home," he added.
The court then handed them a punishment of one month, following which the jail administration got the order yesterday to release the inmates, Nisar said.
Meanwhile, the Tablighis will now be put up at a private resort where they will stay till arrangements are made to send them back to their home countries.
The Tablighi Jamaat, a religious organisation in Nizamuddin, had allegedly organised a congregation in March in violation of mass gatherings.
