As more and more children are losing their lives in Bihar’s Muzzafarpur due to Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES), a case has been filed against Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and Bihar Health Minister Mangal Pandey.
Bihar: A case has been registered against Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan and Bihar Health Minister Mangal Pandey in Muzaffarpur for not spreading awareness about Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) prior to the outbreak. (file pics) pic.twitter.com/UdHhqJYXtu
— ANI (@ANI) June 17, 2019
The petition has been filed by Social Activist Tamanna Hashmi in the court of Muzaffarpur Chief Judicial Magistrate, holding the Ministers responsible for failing to control the outbreak of the disease. The petition stated that the Ministers failed to fulfil their duties to control the outburst of the AES. It alleged that both Harsh Vardhan and Mangal Pandey did nothing to create awareness among the people in the affected areas despite the fact that the disease has been claiming children’s lives for several years.
The petition has been filed under Sections 323 (Voluntarily causing hurt), 308 (Attempt to commit culpable homicide) and 504 (Intentional insult to provoke breach of peace) of the IPC. “A large number of children died due to negligence and lack of infrastructure to give them timely proper treatment”, said Hashmi.
Union Health Minister Vardhan and Union Minister for Health Ashwani Kumar Choubey and the Bihar Health Minister Pandey had visited the State-owned Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital in Muzaffarpur yesterday. Harsh Vardhan had taken oath as the new health minister of the country on 30th May. JP Nadda, who was selected as working president of BJP today, was the union health minister in the first Modi government.
The AES breakout is becoming severe every day taking the death toll higher. In the last 24 hours, 20 children have lost their lives to the deadly fever taking the number of total deaths in Muzaffarpur and other districts close to 100.
