Authors and Publishers of a MBBS book ‘Essentials of Medical Microbiology’ which painted the Tablighi Jamat in bad light, have “apologised and assured changes in the demeaning statements about the role of Tableegi Jamat (TJ) in spreading the COVID-19.
The recent development came after the Students Islamic Organisation of India (SIO) highlighted the misrepresentation of the events in the Epidemiology section of the book.
The SIO said that it had spoken to Jaypee Publications, demanding removal of the content. Following which, Dr. Apurba Sastry and Dr. Sandhya Bhat, the authors wrote a clarification.
According to the SIO, the third edition of the book contains a chapter about how COVID-19 spread in India wherein the authors state that the TJ cluster was an important causative factor for the spread of COVID-19.
“However, there has been no Epidemiological study that corroborates such a claim. There were many large socio-political events and gatherings at the said time period in India. But the TJ was vilified and demonized by various media outlets and groups,” the SIO said in a statement.
SIO said that the Supreme Court and various High courts condemned such misrepresentation of TJ gathering. The Supreme Court had even asked the concerned authorities to undo the damage done.
SIO demanded that the authors apologize for the mistake and take down the problematic part from the book as it paints the community in a negative colour.
“The publishers and authors are responsible for their action. They should do their work with honesty and research. We should also think about how easily fake news can brainwash our society,” Raafid Shahab, Secretary, SIO South Maharashtra, said.
The apology came after the matter was highlighted by activists of the Muslim students body.
“We sincerely apologise if we have inadvertently hurt the sentiments of a group of people by the content of our third edition of ‘Essentials of Medical Microbiology’ The intention was to convey the epidemiology timelines, nothing else,” said the authors of the book after the matter was highlighted.