CBI to investigate Junagadh HIV case
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- Current News
- Thursday, 28 June 2012 07:27
- Published on Thursday, 28 June 2012 17:27
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Gujarat Global News Network, Ahmedabad
The Gujarat high court transferred investigation of the incident of 23 thalassemic kids in Junagadh contracting HIV through blood transfusion to the CBI. The HC had earlier expressed its dissatisfaction with the probe being conducted by the state government agencies.
Last year, 23 thalassemic kids were found infected with HIV. When the state government didn’t even register an FIR, parents of the kids and from the HC filed PIL demanding a thorough probe. The initial probe was conducted by IPS officer Shobha Bhutada.
But the court was disappointed by the probe done by Bhutada. Transferring the probe to the CBI, the bench of acting Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattachayra and Justice J B Pardiwala criticized Bhutada’s probe and highlighted her inaction and blunders in its judgment. The judges were shocked at Bhutada’s recording statement of local BJP MLA Mahendra Mashroo on the letterhead of a private blood bank, Sarvodaya Blood Bank, which faces charge of being criminally negligent in blood transfusion.
Emphasizing on inaction on part of the IPS officer, the court noted that allegations were against high level officers and the legislator, who illegally occupied space in the government hospital and he being chairman of the blood bank invaded into government’s official site and all top officials were blissfully ignorant about this.
The court said that the administration saw to it that probe did not take place in proper manner, as the government was even reluctant to register an FIR. The court observed that no effective steps were taken during five months of probe and the system seemed supporting the private blood bank, which did not even have a license. “In our view, the present case is an exceptional one where in the history of this country, at no point of time in the past, 23 innocent children have been alleged to be infected with HIV positive for the inaction or negligence on the part of a single government hospital and in such extraordinary circumstances, we are of the opinion, we should transfer the probe to the CBI,” the court order read.
The court also rejected all contentions raised by the state government. Certain lame arguments were also put forth by the government that the CBI officials might have problem in going through documents in Gujarati. To this, the judges wrote, “We will definitely pass appropriate order for removing the difficulty in lawful way for the purpose of finding out the real culprit; otherwise, there will be no fair investigation and in future also, other innocent persons will be the victims of negligence.”
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