Spurious syrup: All five accused on bail, cops yet to file challan

Tribune News Service

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, October 7

There has been an endless wait for justice for the families of 12 Udhampur infants who died in early 2020 after consuming a cough syrup contaminated with diethylene glycol, manufactured by Himachal Pradesh-based Digital Vision Pharma located in Kala Amb.

Not only did the cough syrup kill 12 children, it disabled several others, who continue to bear the brunt of the killer chemical.

With the same adulterant back in the news with the WHO potentially linking the death of 66 Gambian children to contaminated cough syrups manufactured by Sonepat-based Maiden Pharma, the wheels of justice in the Udhampur infant death case are hardly even turning.

Mandate was for day-to-day probe

• SIT was formed on March 4, 2020, with the mandate for day-to-day probe, to be concluded in a month
• All accused out on bail; Udhampur SSP says chargesheet to be filed in a week or two
• SIT chief says charges against all five accused established

Three FIRs in case

• FIR dated March 2, 2020, at police station, Ramnagar, Udhampur | FIR dated March 2, 2020, at Kala Amb police station, Himachal Pradesh | FIR dated March 5, 2020, at Mahesh Nagar police station, Ambala

The J&K Police had on March 4, 2020, constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the tragic child deaths in Udhampur’s Ramnagar in January that year.

The Udhampur police order (The Tribune has accessed a copy) on the SIT signed by then SSP Rajiv Pandey clearly mandated a time-bound inquiry into the FIR registered at Ramnagar against five accused under Sections 304 and 274 of the IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder and drug adulteration) and read, “The above SIT shall carry out the investigation of the case on a day-to-day basis and work it out on merit within a month.”

It has been 31 months since the SIT was formed, but the chargesheet is nowhere in sight.

Asked about the SIT status, Udhampur SSP Vinod Kumar told The Tribune today that the chargesheet would be filed “within a week or two.”

Asked what caused such an inordinate delay in the probe, Kumar added, “Members of the original SIT were transferred out because of which the team had to be reconstituted. We are about to file a chargesheet soon.”

According to Kumar, the SIT reconstitution was completed about three months ago, explaining why the case continues to drag on for over two years.

SIT member and Subdivisional Police Officer, Ramnagar (Udhampur), Bishim Dubey, currently leading the case, said the charges against the accused under Sections 304 and 274 of the IPC had been established.

“The charges have been established and the chargesheet is being finalised. We will file it in the Udhampur sessions judge court in seven to 10 days. We have also covered the children who had been disabled by the contaminated drug,” Dubey said.

He attributed the delay to transfer of the previous five SIT members and to the need for building a watertight case.

Meanwhile, all five accused — Ramnagar chemist Mohinder Singh, who prescribed the syrup to children; Varinder Jandial of Jandial Pharmaceuticals, Jammu, who sold the cough syrup to Singh; and owners of Kala Amb-based Digital Vision and Ambala-based Orison Pharmaceuticals Parshotam Lal Goyal and his sons Manic and Kanik Goyal — are on bail.

“Mohinder Singh was jailed briefly before being released on bail but the Goyals never even went to jail. They got anticipatory bail within half an hour of approaching the J&K HC in early 2020,” says Jammu-based social activist Sukesh Khajuria whose petition to the National Human Rights Commission in the Udhampur infant death case led to the commission directing the J&K administration to pay Rs 3 lakh each to the victim families in compensation.

“However, compensation does not equal justice. These families deserve what the Supreme Court calls complete justice as was done in the Uphaar cinema tragedy and the Bhopal gas tragedy. The courts are yet to come in,” Khajuria said.

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