The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre on a petition seeking the evacuation from Iran’s Qom of over 850 Shia Muslim pilgrims, 250 of whom are suspected to have contracted the coronavirus.
A bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and Surya Kant sought the response by Monday of the Centre on the petition filed by M.H. Mustafa, a relative of one of the pilgrims. According to the petition, the pilgrims from Kargil and the Drass sector are stranded in Iran for over a month.
The petitioner has claimed that around 250 pilgrims holed up in a makeshift camp are suspected to have contracted the coronavirus but they had not been isolated, jeopardising their compatriots. The petitioner has said the pilgrims had been bundled together and many of them were aged with underlying conditions and were not getting medicines.
The petitioner has through senior advocate Sanjay Hegde said two of the pilgrims — Mohd Ibrahim and Syed Muhammad — have died at the camp, although it was not known if Covid-19 was the cause.
The petition says that an earlier memorandum submitted by the stranded pilgrims to the Indian foreign ministry had prompted the evacuation of 389 people_, including petitioner Mustafa and some students, and the grant of medical attention to the others at the camp in Qom. However, no further measures have been taken by the Indian government, the petitioner claimed, forcing him to move the Supreme Court.._According to the petition, the pilgrims had started their journey on different dates since December 2019. The trip was to be for a period of three months and the pilgrims were scheduled to return from February 26. The petitioner’s relatives were scheduled to return on March 6. However, there was an outbreak of the coronavirus after that, holding up the pilgrims.
The petitioner said the pilgrims had contacted the Indian government and requested an evacuation.
Following the foreign minister’s intervention, 389 people had been evacuated. The Indian government had also sent a team of doctors to Iran and they tested 850 people for the coronavirus. However, no tests were conducted subsequently, the petitioner claimed.
“It is most respectfully submitted that the pilgrims include aged persons, who suffer from ailments such as hypertension and diabetes and require regular medical care. However, in view of the current situation they have not been able to receive proper medication. Some of them have not been even able to procure medicines in Qom,” the petition said.
“Besides, the Iranian government has accommodated the stranded passengers in various hotels — cost whereof is required to be borne by such pilgrims. Most of the pilgrims are not in a position to pay since they do not have sufficient funds available with them.
“…The pilgrims were scheduled to return much earlier. Most of the pilgrims thus had made sufficient arrangements based on the expectation that they would return on the said date. However, as on date, most of the pilgrims are out of funds and are dependent on the philanthropy of locals.
“Additionally, even the accommodation that is provided is a ‘group accommodation’ wherein 4-5 persons have been put up in a single room. The said arrangement is in gross violation of the standards prescribed by WHO as well as other health organisations,” the petition said
It added: “It is most respectfully submitted that after the tests were conducted on the stranded passengers, it was found that about 250 of the passengers are positive. It may be mentioned that there has been some confusion as to whether these persons are actually infected or not. However, the fact of the matter is that these are persons who are in fact stranded amongst other 850 pilgrims in the city of Qom.
“Given the fact that the persons have been put in an accommodation together regardless of whether somebody is positive for corona or not is a serious health hazard. In fact, 2 of the persons have recently died.”