MP HC criticises NCPCR for "ill-intentioned" case against Christian missionary, quashes FIR
Jabalpur: The Madhya Pradesh High Court's Jabalpur Bench has quashed an FIR against Dr. Ajai Lall, a Christian missionary and office-bearer of Aadhaarshila Sansthan, for charges of child trafficking related to adoptions that took place 15 years ago. The Court expressed its disapproval of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), which had initiated the investigation despite no complaints from the children or their adoptive parents.
Justice Sanjay Dwivedi ruled that the adoption was carried out legally and approved by the family court, thereby making further inquiries by the NCPCR unwarranted. "Once the competent court has declared the children legally free for adoption and the order was never challenged, the NCPCR’s action is not justifiable," the Court stated.
The allegations against Lall emerged from claims that he failed to provide required adoption details to the authorities. He was booked under s. 370 (trafficking of persons) and s. 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), along with s. 80 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. However, Lall argued that the children were not present in the orphanage but in the hostel of the Central India Academy, a residential school operated by Aadhaarshila Sansthan.
The Court also criticized NCPCR Chairperson Priyank Kanoongo for allegedly using social media to defame the petitioner and influence authorities, which was seen as an overreach of the commission’s mandate.
The petitioner was represented by Senior Advocates Vivek Tankha and Shashank Shekhar, while Advocate General Prashant Singh appeared for the State.
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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.
