Lucknow: The Military Intelligence (MI) branch at Army cantonment in Lucknow alerted the police about the presence of 14 Tablighi Jamaat members with symptoms of COVID-19 hidden in a market adjacent to the cantonment. Acting on the tip-off, the city police and civil authorities located the Jamaatis, put them in quarantine facilities and sanitised the mosque.
The swift act is certain to have averted the threat of the highly contagious infection spreading inside the cantonment which houses both both military personnel and civilians.
It was learnt that the MI Branch came to know through its sleuths that sealed food packets are being provided to some unknown occupants at the Alizan mosque inside Sadar Bazar, Lucknow Cantonment.
On further investigation they found that some non-local Tablighi Jamaat members with symptoms of COVID-19 are hiding inside the mosque with support from certain locals. The information was shared with the Lucknow Commissionerate who then decided to take promt action.
During the police raids on the mosque on April 1, around 12 Tablighi Jamaat members from Saharanpur were found hiding inside. All of them were part of the crowd at Nizamuddin (Delhi) Markaz. They were examined for symptoms of COVID-19 and their samples were sent for confirmation. Then the group was sent to quarantine facility run by the state.
An FIR was lodged against the twelve Jamaatis and their two associates at Sadar Bazar Police Station on April 3 (Friday) under sections-188 (acts of disobedience against the orders passed by a public servant), 269 (spreading infection dangerous to life), 270 (punishment for spreading infection dangerous to life), 271 (disobedience to quarantine rule), 3 (punishment for offence beyond India) and 56 (Sentence of Europeans and Americans to penal servitude).
On Sunday, at least eight of the them have reported to be positive for COVID-19. It was also learned that, Dr Asif Khan the practitioner at Zara Clinic, adjacent to the Alizan mosque, was aware about the Jamatis in the mosque and was treating them for COVID-19 symptoms. The doctor was apprehended and he is likely to be booked under relevant sections of IPC for facilitating the Jamatis in hiding with symptoms of COVID-19.
The mosque was inside Sadar Bazar of the cantonment and had several essential shops around it. The location was frequented by service personnel and civilians for procuring fruits and vegetables even during lockdown. As incident was being probed, the military authorities on April 3 declared entire Sadar Bazar area as "out of bound" for service personnel.
Names of Jamatis at Sadar; Jabir Hasan (49), Aftab (71), Tanvir Alam (32), Kurban (50), Afzal, Farman (30), Nasim (54), Intezaar (46), Rafiq, Danish, Kurban, Irfan (71), Athar, Mirajuddin S.
The corrective actions taken by both military and civil authorities are believed to have averted a certain risk of exposing service personnel and civilians of Lucknow cantonment to COVID-19.
