The court has dismissed the application filed against former chief advisor Dr. Muhammad Yunus, former health advisor Nur Jahan Begum and five others for allegedly endangering the lives of children by delaying the import of measles and rubella vaccines.
On Monday, the court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Jashita Islam of Dhaka refused to take cognizance of the case due to lack of sufficient legal and primary material to support the allegations. The matter was confirmed by the relevant sources of the court.
Earlier, Kishoreganj-5 (Bajitpur-Nikli) MP Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Iqbal filed a petition in the court as the plaintiff. The court took the application into consideration for the order after recording his statement.
The other accused in the case are former secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Md. Saidur Rahman, special assistant to the former chief advisor Professor Dr. Muhammad Saidur Rahman and former director general of the Directorate General of Health Services Professor Dr. Md. Abu Zafar.
The petition alleged that the delay in decision-making and negligence in the import of measles-rubella vaccines led to a vaccine crisis in the country. As a result, many children were infected and there were also deaths. According to the plaintiff, the negligence and failure to make decisions by the concerned officials have created a serious risk to public health.
The petition also said that Bangladesh had been procuring vaccines through UNICEF for a long time, but at the relevant time, it moved away from that method and initiated an open tender. It is alleged that this caused a delay in the vaccine procurement process and led to a crisis.
However, the court dismissed the petition as it did not find sufficient basis and material to accept the allegations as a criminal case.
With this order, the judicial process of the complaint under discussion is no longer progressing in the lower court. However, according to the law, the plaintiff can seek redress in a higher court if he wants.