Agencies issue alert to identify them

Intelligence agencies have issued an alert about a group of women Islamic preachers belonging to the women’s wing of the Tablighi Jamaat — the Mastooraat Jamaat — who had attended last month’s congregation in Delhi. The women travelled to several States and also within Tamil Nadu 15 days ago, the agencies said.

Stayed with families

The instruction to identify the delegates comes even as efforts are on to locate and quarantine members of the Tablighi Jamaat, who attended the Delhi conference.

The women’s group, which included some foreign nationals, did not visit any mosque but stayed as guests in Muslim households to preach Islamic values, the police said. The delegates stayed for many days and mingled with families, though there has been no specific input of any member reporting sick with symptoms of COVID-19 so far.

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According to the police, members of the Mastooraat Jamaat are mandated to travel and preach. They usually stay with their hosts and travel in the company of an elderly person in the family.

A number of members took part in the Nizamuddin conference, the police said. A few delegates from Ethiopia and South Africa travelled with Indian women to different places in the country, they added.

“There is a possibility of a number of such women being carriers of COVID-19. Since they stay in the homes of hosts, we have asked police in all cities/districts in Tamil Nadu to identify them and take appropriate precautionary measures as per the safety protocol,” a senior police officer said.

Special teams were in touch with the coordinators of the Tablighi Jamaat to locate the members of Mastooraat Jamaat if they were still staying as part of their preaching schedule.

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Meanwhile, police sources said that most of the 125 foreigners belonging to the Tablighi Jamaat were identified and quarantined in their places of stay in Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam and Kancheepuram districts.

“The charge against them is that they violated the visa conditions. They came on a tourist visa and indulged in preaching religion. There is also violation of prohibitory orders issued under Section 144 of the CrPC,” the officer said.