Vivek Ramaswamy says he will pardon all peaceful January 6 protesters
Washington (PTI): Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has vowed that he will pardon all peaceful January 6 protesters if he gets elected as the next US president in 2024.
The 38-year-old Indian American entrepreneur has gained traction after he denounced the US Justice Department for its "political persecution" of non-violent protesters at the Republican primary presidential debate last month.
"America now has a two-tiered justice system: Antifa and BLM rioters roam free while peaceful January 6 protesters are imprisoned without bail. Biden's Department of Injustice' has executed over 1,000 arrests for nonviolent offenses related to January 6, casting a dark shadow over Lady Justice and the foundational principles of our legal system," he said in a statement.
"To unify this country, I commit as president to pardon all Americans who were targets of politicised federal prosecutions and those denied due process. This includes all peaceful, nonviolent January 6 protesters who were denied their constitutional due process rights," he said on Wednesday.
The January 6 riot saw more than 2,000 people enter the US Capitol as lawmakers certified the results of the 2020 election, in which President Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump.
The mob stormed the Capitol following a speech from Trump, who was speaking at a rally not far from the Capitol grounds. In his speech, Trump claimed election fraud and called on then-Vice-President Mike Pence to overturn the results.
The riot led to the biggest police investigation in US history with hundreds of people accused of criminal offences.
Ramaswamy said he will end the weaponisation of police power in America and noted that every Republican candidate must be clear on hard issues.
He said on Sunday that while he expects to become the party's nominee for the November 2024 US elections, he will vote for Trump if the former president secures the nomination.
He also expressed his intention to pardon Trump, who currently faces an array of legal challenges, should he be elected as President of the United States.
"If Donald Trump's the nominee -- yes, I will support him, and if I'm the president, yes, I will pardon him because that will help reunite the country. But it's not the most important thing I'm going to do as the next president. It is the table stakes for moving this country forward," Ramaswamy told ABC news.
Following his impressive performance in the inaugural Republican primary presidential debate last month, Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur-turned-politician, has experienced a surge in popularity, competing alongside fellow Indian American rival Nikki Haley, the former Governor of South Carolina.
Meanwhile, several media outlets reported that Ramaswamy escaped unhurt when a sign reading "Truth" fell on him during a campaign event in New Hampshire over the weekend.
An opinion poll shared by the Trump Campaign showed that Ramaswamy (with 15 per cent) is now a distant second after former president Trump (68 per cent). Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is now at 13 per cent and at the third position.
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'Low-quality' catheters supplied to West Bengal govt hospitals at high price, probe ordered
Kolkata (PTI): The West Bengal health department has launched a probe into the supplies of allegedly low-quality and locally made catheters at a high price to several government hospitals, posing a risk to the lives of patients undergoing treatment in these facilities, officials said.
Such central venous catheters (CVCs) were allegedly supplied to at least five medical colleges and hospitals in the state, defying allocation of international standard-compliant CVCs, they said.
The distribution company, which has been accused of supplying these catheters to government hospitals, admitted to the fault but placed the blame on its employees.
"We started checking stocks some time back and found these locally made CVCs in my hospital store. These catheters are of low quality as compared to those allocated by the state. We have informed the state health department," a senior official of the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital told PTI.
Low-quality catheters were also found in the stores of other hospitals, which indicates "possible involvement of insiders in the scam", a health department official said.
The low-quality CVCs were supplied by a distributor in the Hatibagan area in the northern part of Kolkata for the last three to four months, he said.
"Such kinds of local CVCs are priced around Rs 1,500 but the distributor took Rs 4,177 for each device," the official said.
A CVC is a thin and flexible tube that is inserted into a vein to allow for the administration of fluids, blood, and other treatment. It's also clinically called a central line catheter.
"An initial probe revealed that the distribution company Prakash Surgical had supplied the low-quality and locally manufactured catheters to several government hospitals instead of the CVCs of the government-designated international company.
"All the units will be tested and a proper investigation is on to find out who benefited from these supplies," the health department official said.
The distribution company blamed its employees for the supply of inferior quality catheters.
"I was sick for a few months. Some employees of the organisation made this mistake. We are taking back all those units that have gone to the hospitals. It's all about misunderstanding," an official of the distribution company told PTI.
According to another state health department official, a complaint was lodged with the police in this connection.
Asked about how many patients were affected by the usage of such low-quality CVCs, the official said, "The probe would also try to find that out".
According to sources in the health department, some of the staff of the hospitals' equipment receiving departments and some local officials of international organisations might be involved in the alleged irregularities.
