'Non-supplying of O2 is criminal act, death due to shortage genocide'

Allahabad: Strongly berating the Uttar Pradesh government and State authorities after stories of the death of Covid patients due to lack of Oxygen and citizens begging for Oxygen with authorities went viral on social media, the Allahabad High Court stated that authorities responsible for procurement and supply of the gas are committing criminal acts and death of COVID-19 patients due to shortage of oxygen is nothing less than genocide.

A Division bench comprising of Justices Siddhartha Varma and Ajit Kumar said, "We are at pain in observing that death of Covid patients just for non supplying of oxygen to the hospitals is a criminal act and not less than a genocide by those who have been entrusted the task to ensure continuous procurement and supply chain of the liquid medical oxygen."

The stern remarks were made in view of viral news and social media posts regarding death of Covid patients due to lack of Oxygen in the districts of Meerut and Lucknow. The Division Bench also noted that people are being harassed, and made to beg for Oxygen cylinders to save the life of their near and dear ones, both at the end of district administration and police administration.

"How can we let our people die in this way when science is so advanced that even heart transplantation and brain surgery are taking place these days," the Bench remarked further noting that these news items show a quite contrary picture to one claimed by the Government regarding sufficient

supply of oxygen. The Court has therefore asked the District Magistrates of Lucknow and Meerut to enquire into the matter of such news items within 48 hours and submit their reports on the next date fixed respectively.