Vaccine / Do victims of fake COVID vaccine camps in Mumbai have antibodies: HC asks BMC

Mumbai: Hearing a PIL regarding the problems faced by citizens in getting the Covid vaccine, the division bench of Bombay High Court has asked BMC to check if the victims of the vaccine scam racket have developed antibodies.

Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice GS Kulkarni of the Bombay High Court asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to check the health of those who have been administered the unauthorised vaccines in Mumbai.

Taking exception to the large number of people falling prey to the vaccines camps organised by some fraudsters, the bench said, “Our anxiety is what happens to these people. They should be checked. Find out what is the effect of this fake vaccine on people. Have they developed antibodies? What if they were given saline or something?”

The bench asked the government agencies about the number of people who would have been impacted by the scam. The court was informed that there are about 514 people in Borivali, 365 in Versova, 398 in Kandivali, 207 in Lower Parel, 30 in Malad West and others.

In total, about 2,053 people have fallen prey to the vaccine scam in Mumbai.

The court said, “Despite all your efforts, this has happened. So, what are you doing about it?” The government has sought time of one week to deal with the issue.

The bench said, “Last week, we had passed an order and said that this needed urgent attention. Every minute is important and so the order was immediately given so that you could come up with an SOP. Time is the essence here.”

The court has decided to grant five days’ time to the authorities to come up with a plan to avoid such scams in future.

The investigation

A case was registered in Kandivali where members of a housing society complained of not showing any side effects after taking the vaccine, prompting the police to investigate.

Thackeray filed a status report of the investigation done so far in which there are four FIRs registered so far. He said that since the investigation is in progress, the documents are confidential.

As of now, there have been 6 arrests in these cases. While looking through the investigation papers, the judges noted that the office bearer of the housing society in Kandivali, Ashish Mishra, was the first one to say that the camp could be organised.

Thackeray informed that till today, 400 witness statements have been recorded in these cases.