NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday asked the foreign nationals blacklisted for allegedly participating in the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area in mid March to send the copy of their petition, in which they have challenged the MHA’s order blacklisting them, to the Centre.
A bench comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna scheduled the matter for further hearing on Monday, and sought response from the Centre and state governments.
The petitioners contended in their plea that on April 4, the Centre further blacklisted around 2,500 foreigners, who were in India, from travelling to India for a period of 10 years. But, no press release has been issued on this so far.
“The impugned decision, by its very unilateral nature, infringes the principle of natural justice, particularly, audi alteram partem by blacklisting the aforementioned foreigners present in India without first granting an opportunity of being heard, resultantly depriving the aggrieved foreign nationals of their right of locomotion and travelling back to the country of their citizenship,” said the plea of the foreigners.
More than 30 petitioners, submitted that they had to forfeit their passports to the state administration after the registration of the FIRs, which led to deprivation of personal liberty, without following the procedure under the law. The plea added the decisions are based on an “erroneous presumption” equating a religious congregation with Tablighi work such as preaching religious ideologies. It has sought direction to MHA, MEA ministries to remove the said foreigners from the blacklist.