NEW DELHI: Delhi Police on Wednesday booked the head of the Afghan solidarity committee Ahmad Zia Ghani and other refugees for allegedly not wearing masks and flouting COVID-19 norms during their protest outside United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office at Vasant Vihar.
The police also said that no prior permission was sought by the Afghan refugees and asylum seekers camping outside the UNHCR office.
In an FIR lodged by sub-inspector Deepak Kumar Tanwar dated August 31, Tanwar stated, "Ghani was holding a protest outside the UNHCR office. Today, I along with other personnel were deployed for law and order duty at the UNHCR office. Around 300 Afghan refugees have gathered and most of them were not wearing masks, not maintaining social distance. Ghani, who is the organiser of the protest was also not wearing a mask and also not maintaining social distance."
Further, he alleged that UNHCR and the resident welfare association (RWA) had also complained that the protestors were not wearing masks and they have violated the norms. "Ghani and other Afghan refugees had violated the rules of DDMA. They had committed the offence under IPC Section 188," he said.
However, no arrest has been made so far.
Vasant Vihar Welfare Association had also filed a plea at the Delhi High Court, seeking the removal of the foreign nationals who had gathered outside the UNHCR India office in Vasant Vihar and set up temporary structures, and settling them at an appropriate camp.
The petitioners, the welfare association and one Bhaskar Chatterjee, through the plea also sought to direct respondents to issue appropriate policy to deal with the nuisance being faced by the residents of Vasant Vihar as COVID-19 protocols were being violated.
After the Taliban seized control of the war-ravaged Afghanistan on August 15, several Afghan refugees in India protested in front of the UNHCR office, demanding the release of "support letters" from the UN agency to migrate to other countries for better opportunities.