Delhi Court Dismisses Plea Seeking Anti-Terror Agency's Probe Into Covid's China Link

The plea sought directions to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to register a case and initiate investigation regarding the spread of coronavirus in India and it's alleged origin from China.

A Delhi Court has dismissed the plea of Dr Jagdish Prasad, former Director-General of Health Services, who sought directions to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to register a case and initiate investigation regarding the spread of coronavirus in India and it's alleged origin from China. Additional Session Judge Praveen Singh, in an order passed on August 7, said, "A bare reading of the present complaint reflects that this complaint is based upon media reports, opinions, conjectures, surmises, probabilities and possibilities. There are no categorical facts that have been alleged and only the possibilities that SARS-CoV-2 might have been genetically modified at Wuhan Laboratories have been raised and that too not on the basis of facts but on the basis of view of experts." "Opinions can never substitute facts and for the creation of an offence, certain facts constituting the offence need to be disclosed and not the mere possibilities as has been done in the present case. Therefore, even on merits, the complaint does not call for any investigation as is it based on theories which have been propounded by individuals on assumptions and analysis raised by them, which in no manner can be said to be unestablished fact. I accordingly find no merits in the present complaint. The same is accordingly dismissed," the court said.