Chennai police have registered a case against four office-bearers of Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamaath (TNTJ) and 2500 unknown persons for staging a protest without permission and flouting the governments advisory to maintain social distance amidst the coronavirus threat.

#Breaking | Chennai police books 4 office bearers of Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamaath & 2500 unknown persons for staging a protest without permission & gathering in large numbers during the time of #Coronavirus spread.



Details by TIMES NOW’s Shilpa. | #ShaheenCallItOff pic.twitter.com/EF0K2BUqT1 — TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) March 19, 2020

After repeated warnings given to the anti-CAA protestors to call off the protests in the wake of the outbreak of novel coronavirus, the Chennai police booked these protestors and the four organisers who have been sitting for the Shaheen-Bagh-style protest in the state.

Shaheen Bagh-style protests were going on in 58 places in the state to protest against the CAA, NRC and NPR. The first such protest started at Washermenpet in Chennai on February 14.

According to reports, these protestors have been booked under four sections of the IPC including section 269 of the IPC which says that whoever unlawfully or negligently does any act which is, and which he knows or has reason to believe to be, likely to spread the infection of any disease dangerous to life, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine, or with both.

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Nearly 50 organisations, which were protesting against CAA since December, have suspended their agitation in the interests of public health. However, the TNTJ had announced that its protest march outside the Madras High Court premises in the already crowded Broadway area will be held as planned on Wednesday.

Hundreds of TNTJ cadre and sympathisers, holding umbrellas to protect themselves from scorching heat, converged and raised slogans against the Centre and state governments. The mass gathering was organised despite CM Edappadi K. Palaniswami orders on Monday that no permission would be granted for rallies or public meetings as a precaution to curb the spread of the novel Coronavirus.

The TNTJ cadre had said the Citizenship Amendment Act and NRC are “more dangerous” than COVID-19, which has so far “killed only two people” but the former has “consumed the lives of several.”

Earlier in the day, it was reported how one of the organisers of the anti-CAA protests in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri has shown symptoms of the COVID-19 and is currently undergoing tests after he met his sister, who was earlier tested positive. His sister had returned from the Umrah pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia on 11th March. The 35-year-old protestor said he had been to the anti-CAA protest site in Delhi “a couple of times” after meeting his sister on 13 March.

Yesterday we had reported how ‘protestors’ at Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh were defying rules to lead mass protests at the protest site despite warnings from the government that the virus could affect them. Targetting the government over such diktats, the ‘protestors’ had said it was a conspiracy by the government to evict them from the protest site and asserted that they would not move an inch until the government revoked the law.

They also claimed that the protests were a call from Allah and they do not fear the Coronavirus. Instead, they asked to repel all the laws if they cared for the ‘protestors’ at the Shaheen Bagh.

The total number of novel coronavirus cases in India rose to 170 on Thursday after a record number of fresh cases reported from the various parts of the country. Globally, the virus has infected more than 2,25,000 people and killed more than 9200, as per the data available online.