Lucknow, April 3: The Uttar Pradesh government will invoke the rigorous National Security Act (NSA) against Tablighi Jamaat members accused of making lewd gestures at nurses at the Ghaziabad quarantine centre. The decision to slap NSA against them was issued by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in his meeting with the security officials on Friday. Catch all the live news updates related to coronavirus outbreak in India and other parts of the world.

Adityanath, in his statement, said the accused have committed a "grave crime" by outraging the modesty of women. Strict action must be taken against them to prevent such incidents from being repeated in the foreseeable future, he added. COVID-19 Live Map Tracker in India.

"They will not follow the law, nor will they follow any order. They are enemies of humanity. What they have done towards the woman is a grave crime. We will invoke the National Security Act," he said.

Once the NSA is slapped against the accused, the government is mandated to keep them under custody for a period of upto two years without trial. The BJP-led government had earlier drawn flak for keeping Dalit leader Chandrashekhar Azad in custody for 18 months after slapping the NSA against him.

After being evacuated from the Nizamuddin Markaz, where nearly 2,300 Jamaatis were stranded following the imposition of lockdown, several COVID-19 suspects among them were shifted to nearest quarantine centres. The batch of persons shifted to Ghaziabad were accused by the Chief Medical Officer of roaming without pants making lewd gestures towards the female nurses.

"The Jamaati patients have been roaming around without pants and listening to obscene music. They are asking the staff to provide them bidis and cigarette and making lewd gestures at female staff. The nursed have submitted a written complaint in this regard," said the letter written by Ghaziabad police to the CMO.

A fifth of the new cases recorded across India over the past four days are linked to the Tablighi Jamaat event held in Delhi's Nizamuddin area in mid-March. Out of the 56 deaths recorded in the nation, 15 are of those who had contracted the virus during the Tablighi congregation.

The Tablighi Jamaat drew criticism for organising the Markaz even from several Muslim quarters as well. Zafar Sareshwala, Chancellor of Maulana Azad National Urdu University and a self-claimed member of Tablighi Jamaat, pinned the blame on top cleric Maulana Saad for organising the conference despite the apprehensions. The shrine of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, located close to the ideologically-opposed Tablighi Markaz, also condemned the group for violating the Delhi government's March 13 order thar barred mass gatherings.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 03, 2020 01:34 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).