"Officers Be Charged With Manslaughter": Court Raps Centre Over Vaccines

The court said some urgent hand-holding is required for manufacturing vaccines which is missing because of "fear psychosis" and this potential should not be taken away by foreigners.

Officers sitting over untapped potential to make COVID-19 vaccines need to be charged with "manslaughter" as it is leading to so many deaths, the Delhi High Court said on Wednesday, observing that a lot of scope and infrastructure is available in India which is not being used. The court said some urgent hand-holding is required for manufacturing vaccines which is missing because of "fear psychosis" and this potential should not be taken away by foreigners. "The problem is of fear psychosis that some vigilance enquiry will take place, audit will take place, police investigation will take place. Tell them, this is not the time to be wary of these investigations and audit reports. This is leading to deaths today. Actually some people need to be charged with manslaughter for sitting over this untapped potential," a bench of Justices Manmohan and Najmi Waziri said. The court said the Centre should expedite the process of clearing samples of Panacea Biotec which has collaborated with Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) for manufacturing Sputnik V.