Don't spare 'big fish' in fake vaccination cases: High Court to Mumbai police
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday said the Mumbai police, probing instances of fake vaccination camps against COVID-19 in the city, must identify the "big fish" in such cases and should not spare them.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni also directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to inform the court about steps that the civic body proposed to take to check those duped by such camps for antibodies and any adverse effects on their health because of the fake vaccine.
The court was hearing a bunch of public interest litigations (PILs) on increasing the accessibility of citizens to the vaccination drives against COVID-19.
The state's counsel, advocate Deepak Thakare, told the HC that seven FIRs had been registered and 13 people arrested in the case. He said the probe into the case is still going on.
The BMC's counsel, senior advocate Anil Sakhare, told the court that the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for private COVID-19 vaccination camps for housing societies and offices will be finalised by Wednesday.
The HC then said advocate Thakare must tell the investigating officers in the case not to spare anyone found to be involved in the "scam".
"There might be big fish yet to be identified. They must be identified and should not be spared. Tell the police the investigation must be proper and no one should be left out," the court said.
It further said the BMC must inform the court of the steps it was planning to take to test the victims.
The court asked why the BMC and state authorities were so far unable to determine what the victims were administered in the name of anti-COVID-19 vaccine.
"This appears to be a state failure. Why doesn't the corporation think of testing? What are you thinking of doing for the unfortunate people, you must tell us on Thursday," the HC said.
The state and the BMC had earlier told the high court that a total of 2,053 people across the city fell victim to the fake vaccination camps.
The HC will continue hearing the PILs on July 1.
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Four booked for tying 18-year-old to tree, beating him up in UP's Pratapgarh
Pratapgarh (UP) (PTI): Four people were booked here for the abduction and assault of a man who they allegedly tied to a tree and beat up, police said on Wednesday.
The incident, a video of which has gone viral, took place on Tuesday afternoon under the Kunda police station limits.
The FIR was registered on Wednesday evening based on a complaint from the victim's father.
According to Keshav Prasad Yadav, a resident of Mauli village, some people called his 18-year-old son Nikhil Yadav on the phone and asked him to come out of his house around 2.30 pm on Tuesday.
As he reached outside the village as instructed, the accused allegedly forced him into a car and took him towards the Tinpedwa forest area, where they tied him to a tree and assaulted, the complainant said.
The attackers also recorded a video of the incident and circulated it on social media. The purported video shows the men thrashing Nikhil one after another, while one of them is assumed to have recorded the act.
Kunda Station House Officer Manoj Pandey confirmed the incident and said efforts are underway to identify and arrest all the accused.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has shared the video on social media, describing the incident as reflective of a "dominant mindset" against the PDA (Pichda or Backward, Dalit, and Alpasankhyak or Minority), and demanded strict action against the accused.
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