PIL filed in Supreme Court after Encephalitis death toll in Bihar crosses 100

With the death toll of children dying due to the outbreak of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) in Bihar crossing 100, a petition to address the issue has been filed before the Supreme Court..Advocates Manohar Pratap and Sanpreet Singh Ajmani have moved the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Centre and the State of Bihar to arrange for 500 Intensive Care Units (ICU) along with the requisite number of medical professionals to deal with the outbreak..A direction for the arrangement of 100 mobile ICUs has also been sought in the petition which also prays to set up a medical board to be sent to Muzaffarpur..Owing to the crucial situation that has arisen on account of the Encephalitis outbreak, the PIL has sought the Supreme Court’s intervention in the situation..The petitioners have claimed that the State of Bihar has failed to take steps to prevent the spread of Encephalitis and thus the Court’s intervention in the situation becomes imperative..There is a “complete failure of state machinery” in dealing with the situation and the continuing act of negligence of the part of the State of Bihar is leading to the violation of Right to Life guaranteed under the Constitution of India, the petition states..“Despite death of more than 100 children, state govt. has shown no prompt steps to prevent the spread of the said disease in adjoining districts. The present act of the negligence by the Respondents who are state within the framework of India Constitution has resulted in death of hundreds of young innocent lives. This continuing act of negligence on the part of state is consistently violating the fundamental right to life guaranteed under the Article 21 of the Constitution of India.”.The petitioners have also placed reliance on media reports and averred that the medical professionals are unable to control the deaths in Muzaffarpur on account of lack of facilities and trained professionals..“indulgence of this Hon’ble Court can save lives of thousands of young children who are future of India but are dying unnatural death due to inaction and negligence of the state machinery.“.The petitioners have also prayed for a direction to the State of Bihar to notify an extraordinary government order directing all private medical institutes in the area of Muzaffarpur to provide free medical treatment to the affected patients..The petition also seeks the constitution of a fact-finding committee to look into the role of negligent persons involved..Prayer has also been made to disburse compensation to the tune of Rs. 10 lakh to the families of those persons who lost their lives due to State’s negligence..Bar & Bench is available on WhatsApp. For real-time updates on stories, Click here to subscribe to our WhatsApp.