Bombay High Court issues notice to Serum Institute, Bill Gates on plea for ₹1,000 crore compensation alleging death due to Covishield

The Bombay High Court recently sought responses from the Serum Institute of India (SII) and Microsoft founder Bill Gates in a plea filed by one Dilip Lunawat, seeking ₹1,000 crores as compensation for the death of his daughter, who he claimed died due to the side effects of SII's COVID vaccine, Covishield. .Gates was made a party to the case by the petitioner as a partner at SII. Bill Gates Foundation had funded SII's efforts in the manufacture of Covishield.A bench of Justices SV Gangapurwala and Madhav Jamdar issued notice on the plea on August 26, with advocate Smita Thakur accepting the notice on behalf of Bill Gates..The petitioner claimed that his daughter Snehal Lunawat, a medical student, was assured that the COVID vaccines are completely safe, and pose no risk or threat to the body. She was also compelled to take vaccine at college since she was a health worker.But due to the side effects of those vaccines, she passed away on March 1, 2021, it was contended. Pertinently, Lunawat submitted that the Central government's Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) committee on October 2, 2021 admitted that the death of his daughter was due to side effects of Covishield.Lunawat stated in his plea that the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) and Director of All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) gave false assurances that vaccines are safe, a narrative which was supplemented by State authorities without verification, due to which several other health workers may be compelled to take the vaccine..Lunawat, therefore, sought a declaration from the Court that respondent authorities have callous criminal attitude as till date they have continued with their narrative that they have treatment for vaccine side effects.The plea also sought directions to State authorities to pay interim compensation of ₹1,000 crores which they could recover from SII Pune. Finally, he sought directions to the Central government to take appropriate action against social media companies like Google, YouTube, Meta, etc. who are involved in conspiracy of suppressing correct data about deaths caused due to vaccine side effects..The writ petition filed through advocates Abhishek Mishra and Deepika Jaiswal arraigned the following persons/ entities as respondents:Serum Institute of India (SII) Pvt. Ltd. through its CEO, Adar Poonawalla;Bill Gates;Maharashtra government;Union of India;Ministry of Health & Family Welfare;DCGI (VG Somani); andDr. Randeep Guleria (AIIMS Director)