A member of the Tablighi Jamaat has sent a legal notice to Bennett Coleman and Company Ltd, its Managing Director Vineet Jain, and others for publishing a “highly defamatory and inflammatory” article alleging that the Jamaat shares links with terror outfits.
In the legal notice sent through Prime Law Associates, Tablighi Jamaat member Hafeezulla Khan has sought a sum of Rs 1 crore as liquidated damages for the mental agony caused to him due to the article which was published by Times Now on April 1.
The legal notice states that the Tablighi Jamaat is one of the largest Islamic movements in the world that works with the Muslim community to increase their awareness regarding the basic principles of Islam and Prophetic traditions and to enable Muslims to live as honest and responsible citizens of the countries they live in.
Asserting that all its programs are organized and conducted with due permission from the relevant authorities in a cordial atmosphere, it is stated,
“The organization has always cooperated with the authorities and has had absolutely no run-ins with the law in over 100 years of its existence. All its members are law-abiding citizens and the Jamaat neither encouraged nor supported and has in fact opposed any violation of law by any person of the organization.“
The notice states that the allegations in the Times Now article that the Jamaat has had a long history of association with Pakistan based outfits like Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) are “baseless and malicious”.
“This is a baseless and malicious allegation as the Tablighi Jamaat has never been the subject of any investigation for any connection to terror activities.. This again is a malicious attempt to link the Tablighi Kamaat to the HuM .. the Tablighi Jamaat not only has no relation with any terror organization but unequivocally condemns all acts of terror across the world with harshest possible terms.”Legal notice sent by Tablighi Jamaat member
In response to the assertion that members of the Jamaat were blacklisted and its preachers were denied visas, it is stated,
“…the said assertions are made to further malign the Tablighi Jamaat and promote hatred and enmity towards all members of the Tablighi Jamaat, putting our client in immense danger.”
Therefore, claiming that the article has caused maximum damage to the reputation of the Tablighi Jamaat, an unconditional apology stating that Jamaat has no terror links has been sought.
This Article was Originally published in barandbench.com