IANS hits back at Tablighi Jamaat

By Aarti Tikoo Singh

New Delhi, April 8 (SocialNews.XYZ) Indias largest independent news agency, Indo-Asian News Service (SocialNews.XYZ) sent a legal notice to a member of the Tablighi Jamaat after he attempted to selectively harass and criminally intimidate the agencys media subscribers for running an IANS exclusive report on the Islamic missionarys dubious background on their digital editions.

Countering Khan's allegations, the IANS argued that its report was based on the information publicly available on several reputed news and security affairs websites, questioned by no one until now including the Jamaat.

The IANS has sought an explanation from the Jamaat member on what steps the Jamaat member or Jamaat has taken over the past two decades challenging the credibility of such reports and seeking their removal from public domain against the publishers and authors or these reports across jurisdictions to mitigate its fears that such reports stating the misdeeds of Jamaat has been leading to creating enmity against Tablighi Jamaat in India, putting all members of Jamaat in immense danger the risk of violence.

The IANS asked the Jamaat member why he had malliciously chosen to target the subcribers of IANS despite admitting themselves that it was in fact an IANS exclusive report. The IANS has also demanded the Jamaat member to immediately withdraw the legal notice against the media entities and not risk proceedings for committing criminal intimidation and abusing the due process of law.

Even as Tablighi Jamaat's reputation is mired in several scandals after it became the 'largest known viral vector' of the novel coronavirus in India and its chief, Maulana Muhammad Saad Kandhalvi is on the run, a self-proclaimed member of the organization and a Bangalore resident, Hafeezulla Khan's lawyer had sent a legal notice to IANS subscribers. The said article only highlighted using documentary evidence already in public domain written by eminent security experts the Jamat's global linkages to terror suspects.

Reminding Jamaat of the disrepute that the organization has brought upon itself in the last one week, IANS pointed out that firstly its congregation of preachers, held deliberately in complete disregard to law of the land and advisories by both the Central and the state government, had resulted in doubling the covid-19 cases in just over four days in India and secondly its continued belligerence has let to its members commiting numerous brazen acts across the country over the past week alone.

Prime Law Associates, a law firm based in Tasker Town, Bangalore on behalf of Khan had sent the notice to the well-known media entities, their publishers, chief executive officers and editor-in-chiefs for merely carrying an IANS exclusive report 'Tablighi Jamaat shares links with terror outfits' in its digital edition using news feed. These appeared to be clear cases of intimidatory tactics.

The Jamaat notice had called the report "defamatory" "designed to cause maximum damage to the reputation" of Tablighi Jamaat and promote "enmity and hatred towards all its members" by "putting them at the risk of violence". The Jamaat lawyer sought an apology and Rs. one crore for "horrible mental agony" the report has caused Khan.

The Tablighi member also threatened to file a separate criminal case for criminal defamation against these media entities.

Represented by Hammurabi & Solomon Partners, IANS in its counter notice called out Khan's "malafide and deliberate attempt to intimidate" its subscribers and "attempt to misuse the due process of law." The IANS in its notice said that Khan had attempted to misuse the due process of law for his ulterior and malicious objectives and as a counterblast to the action taken by enforcement agencies across the country and the due reporting of the misdeeds and illegal acts of Jamaat by the current affairs media.

The government, IANS mentioned, has blacklisted and canceled visas of 960 foreign members of the Jamaat and initiated legal action against them for violating the provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946 and the Disaster Management Act, 2005.

The governments and local police of Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi have filed several cases of grave violations committed by the Jamaat in the last few weeks.

While an FIR against Maulana Saad and other members of the outfit has been filed in Delhi, there was another FIR registered against 150 members of the outfit for violating laws in Mumbai.

In Narela quarantine center, Delhi police filed an FIR against the Jamaat members who allegedly defecated openly on the second floor where Covid-19 patients are being treated.

In UP, police registered multiple FIRs against Jamaat for alleged "inappropriate behavior" with nurses and walking around naked at a hospital and also for numerous clerics avoiding to cooperate with health agencies and instead hiding in a Madrasa on the Nepal border.

The Jamaat is also an alleged suspect in the case of Prayagraj resident who was killed for allegedly criticizing the organization over its role in spreading the coronavirus infection in India.

Source: IANS