The foreign nationals who attended a religious event at Delhi's Nizamuddin in March were "virtually" persecuted and blamed for spreading coronavirus as part of propaganda, the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court observed on Friday, dismissing cases filed against 29 foreigners.
A division bench of Justices TV Nalawade and M G Sewlikar noted that while the Maharashtra police acted mechanically in the case, the state government acted under "political compulsion".
The 29 foreign nationals were booked under various provisions of the IPC, the Epidemic Diseases Act, Disaster Management Act, and Foreigner's Act for allegedly violating their tourist visa conditions by attending the Tablighi Jamaat congregation held at Nizamuddin in the national capital.
The bench in its order noted that there was big propaganda against the foreigners who had come to the Markaz in Delhi.
Hundreds of people - both foreigners and locals - were tested positive for coronavirus after they had either attended the Tablighi Jamaat event or had come in contact with the followers of the Islamic sect. Visa violation cases were registered against the foreign nationals who had attended the congregation.
The event had turned out to be the biggest coronavirus cluster in the country.
"A political government tries to find the scapegoat when there is pandemic or calamity and the circumstances show that there is probability that these foreigners were chosen to make them scapegoats," the court said in its order.
"A political government tries to find the scapegoat when there is pandemic or calamity and the circumstances show that there is the probability that these foreigners were chosen to make them scapegoats," it added.
The bench was hearing three separate petitions filed by the accused foreign nationals, who belong to countries like Ghana, Tanzania, Benin, and Indonesia.
They claimed that when they arrived in India, they were screened and were let to leave the airport only after they did not show any symptoms of COVID-19. The petitioners further claimed that they were visiting several places in India to observe the religious practices of Muslims.
They claimed that due to lockdown imposed across the country in March, the petitioners, who were in Ahmednagar district at the time, were accommodated in masjids as most lodges and hotels were closed. They further claimed that while granting a visa, there was no prohibition to visit religious places, like masjids.
The 29 foreign nationals were booked under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code, the Epidemic Diseases Act, Disaster Management Act, and Foreigner's Act for allegedly violating their tourist visa conditions by attending the Tablighi Jamaat congregation.
The court said that action against the petitioners should not have been taken.
"It is now high time for the concerned to repent about this action taken against the foreigners and to take some positive steps to repair the damage done by such action," the court said.
(With PTI Inputs)