A bench of the Bombay high court ordered the Mumbai police to arrest each and every accused involved in the fake vaccination drive, in which over 2,000 citizens were duped. The bench, comprising Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Girish Kulkarni, on Tuesday, observed that it is the “state’s failure” and ordered the authorities to find out what exactly was administered to these 2,053 citizens.
The judges also sought to know from the BMC as to when it would inoculate these citizens. The bench was hearing a PIL filed by Siddharth Chandrashekhar through advocate Anita Shekhar-Castellino, highlighting the incident of the fake vaccine camps held at housing societies and production houses.
The Mumbai Police filed its report spelling out the current status of the probe. Chief public prosecutor Deepak Thakre, representing the city police, informed the bench that 12 accused have been named in the seven FIRs lodged at various police stations across the city. “Out of 12, we have arrested 11 and the prime accused Dr. Manish Tripathi surrendered before the police on Tuesday morning after a court turned down his anticipatory bail application on Monday,” Thakre told the bench.
Having gone through the report, chief justice Datta said, “The police must investigate the case properly as there might be some big people involved in it. Thus, we are of the opinion that the probe in this case must be fair, proper and meaningful. Whoever the accused is, must be arrested, irrespective of what he is. Hope you (police) get what we say.”
“When we are saving the lives of citizens, we need to arrest all the accused,” the chief justice added. During the hearing, Castellino told the judges that the state needs to check what actually was administered to these citizens as there are several students who were also administered the vaccine.
“When did the first incident take place?” CJ Datta asked senior counsel Anil Sakhare, representing the BMC. “Within 11 days all incidents took place,” Sakhare said.
The chief justice noted that the incident took place some one month ago. “More than 2,000 persons have been duped. How do you (BMC) propose to vaccinate them?” CJ Datta questioned. Sakhare told the court that after 15 days, these citizens will have to undergo an antigen test. “They can either come to us or opt for a private test,” he added.
“It appears to be a state failure. You find out what was exactly administered to these citizens. In fact, the BMC should have checked it by now,” CJ Datta said, adding, “By the next date tell us what are you complimenting so far as these unfortunate persons are concerned.”
Meanwhile, Sakhare submitted that the BMC is likely to issue fresh SOPs against fake vaccine camps and would provide detailed guidelines for housing societies before holding vaccine camps on their premises.
