[Tablighi Jamaat] Cases From All Over UP To Be Transferred To 3 Districts; To Be Decided Within 8 Weeks: Allahabad HC [Read Order]

The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday (30th September) directed that the cases pending against the members of Tablighi Jamaat in Kanpur, Gorakhpur, Prayagraj, Varanasi and Lucknow Zones be transferred to Chief Judicial Magistrate, Lucknow.Likewise cases pending in Agra and Meerut Zones be transferred to Chief Judicial Magistrate, Meerut. Lastly, the cases pending in Bareilly Zone be transferred to Chief Judicial (10) Magistrate, Bareilly. The names of different districts which fall under the aforesaid zones have been mentioned in the Judgment attached below.Notably, the Division Bench of Justice Shashi Kant Gupta and Justice Shamim Ahmed was hearing the petition/application filed on behalf of the State of U.P. in pursuance of the order dated 6.8.2020 passed by the Apex Court with a prayer:-To transfer the cases registered against the members of Tablighi Jamat in different districts within their concerned zones or pass such other or further orders, which this Court may deem fit.Cases against the members of Tablighi JamaatIt may be noted that criminal prosecution was launched against the foreigners who had come to attend the conference of Tablighi Jamat held at New Delhi for violating the pandemic guidelines and committing penal offences. A Petition was filed by Maulana Ala Hadrami and others before the Apex Court challenging such criminal prosecutions instituted against the members of Tablighi Jamat.An Interim Application No. 84676 of 2020 was filed by interveners before the Apex Court raising two-fold grievances.One of the grievances raised was that a multitude of criminal cases are pending against members of Tablighi Jamat across the State of Uttar Pradesh and concerned Courts are granting bails imposing different conditions, and there is no uniformity in that regard. Secondly, the grievance was that due to the pendency of proceedings in different Courts, the accused in the concerned cases are facing logistical difficulties for which reason, as the cases involving the same issue; need to proceed for inquiry/trial before one Court in the State of Uttar Pradesh.It may be noted that the Supreme Court on Friday (04th September) had allowed the consolidation of multiple FIRs from Uttar Pradesh against foreign nationals for their alleged involvement in Tablighi Jamaat activities and agreed to transfer pending trials before specified courts.The Bench comprising of Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna had ordered the State Government to approach the Principal Bench of Allahabad High Court with an application to decide which, and how many, courts would take up the trials pending across various zones in UP.The Apex Court had issued the direction that:-"The prosecution in the present set of cases (State of Uttar Pradesh) shall forthwith move a formal application before the Principal Seat of the Allahabad High Court for appropriate relief(s), which we are certain would be considered in light of and in terms of order dated 06.08.2020 in reference to similar cases in the N.C.T. of Delhi. The application to be moved by the State of Uttar Pradesh may be dealt with preferably by the senior-most Judge of the Allahabad High Court, taking up the criminal assignment, expeditiously. After the application is moved by the State of Uttar Pradesh and is disposed of by the High Court, the Trial Court(s) shall endeavour to dispose of the concerned criminal cases within eight weeks from the date the same are transferred to such Court(s). We place on record that the parties have assured this Court that complete cooperation will be extended to the trial Court(s) for expeditious disposal of pending criminal cases including to participate in the proceedings through video conferencing."The Court had also directed the High Court to identify the specific court(s) within a period of one week where all the matters may be listed for hearing.Notably, in paragraph 5 of the application/petition, it was stated that a large numbers of cases have been registered against the members of Tablighi Jamat in different districts of State of Uttar Pradesh. It has been further stated that in order to maintain law and order, the State of Uttar Pradesh has been divided into eight zones. Each zone comprises a number of districts.Arguments of the Counsel for the PetitionersManish Goyal, the counsel for the petitioners submitted that the Apex Court was also fully aware about the difficulties of the prosecution agency, as such, the Apex Court in its order dated 4.9.2020 has not specifically directed that the trial be conducted in a single Court, but instead has specifically used the words "trial Court (s)" giving discretion to this Court to transfer the cases to one or more Courts, as such, it has been prayed that the cases which are pending in various districts be transferred to at least 2 or 3 districts so that it could be decided in accordance with the directions passed by the Apex Court.High Court's OrderAccordingly, the...

[Tablighi Jamaat] Cases From All Over UP To Be Transferred To 3 Districts; To Be Decided Within 8 Weeks: Allahabad HC [Read Order]

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