Health Minister Harsh Vardhan named in Bihar children deaths case

Patna, June 17

A case was filed on Monday against Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and Bihar Health Minister Mangal Pandey  in a court in Muzaffarpur district on charges of negligence leading to the deaths of 82 children due to Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) in the past fortnight.

Social activist Tamanna Hashmi filed the case in the Muzaffarpur Chief Judicial Magistrate’s court on Monday.

The petition said Vardhan and Pandey failed to fulfill their duties to control the outbreak of AES, while both had done nothing to create awareness and sensitise people in the affected areas despite the fact that AES had been killing children for years.

The court has fixed June 24 for hearing the case.

Hashmi said he had filed the case against Vardhan and Pandey under Sections 323, 308 and 504 of the IPC.

“A large number of children died due to negligence and the lack of infrastructure to give them timely proper treatment,” he said.

Vardhan, accompanied by Union Minister of State for Health Ashwani Kumar Choubey and the Bihar Health Minister, visited the state-owned Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital in Muzaffarpur on Sunday. IANS