JUDGMENT

(Prayer: For Bail in Crime No. 234 of 2020 on the file of the Inspector of Police, Dindigul Town South Police Station, Dindigul District.

For Bail in Crime No.188 of 2020 on the file of the Inspector of Police, Kenikkarai Police Station, Ramanathapuram District.

For Bail in Crime No.182 of 2020 on the file of the Inspector of Police, Adiramapattinam Police Station, Thanjavur District.)

Common Order

The run-up:

1. The petitioners are foreign nationals. They entered India on tourist visas. The respondent police arrested them on the ground that they had engaged in religious activities in breach of the visa conditions. They had also defied the lock down regulations promulgated by the Government in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic. Though the petitioners were fully aware that the Government had ordered closure of all places of worship, they stayed in groups in various mosques without observing the social distancing rules. Hence, the jurisdictional police registered FIRs against the petitioners herein alleging that they had committed offences under Sections 13 and 14 of the Foreigners Act, 1946, Sections 188, 269, 270, 271 and 278 of IPC, Section 3 of Epidemic Diseases Act 1897, Section