Jharkhand health minister’s official booked for forcible vaccination of 35 people
FIR lodged for manhandling officials and also for getting people, all of them under-45, inoculated three days before the Covid vaccination drive opened up for all adults today
A First Information Report (FIR) has been lodged against the Jamshedpur office in-charge of Jharkhand health and disaster management minister Banna Gupta on charges of forcing a Covid vaccination team to inoculate 35 people below the age of 45 years on May 11, three days before the drive for all adults began in the state on Friday.
“An FIR has been lodged against Sanjay Tiwari and 35 other named accused for forcing the vaccination team to give them Covid-19 vaccine doses at Kadma New Farm Area communiy hall on May 11 though all of them were allegedly below 45, thus violating state government as well as Central Government guideline and rules,” Manoj Thakur, Kadma police station (PS) officer-in-charge (OC), said on Friday.
The FIR was filed Thursday late evening on the basis of a complaint filed by incident commander-cum-executive magistrate Chandradeo Prasad. “FIR has been also filed for threatening the executive magistrate and three members of the vaccination team under sections 188, 504 and 506 of the IPC, 51 Act and 60, 61 Epidemic Act,” added Thakur.
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Prasad confirmed filing the complaint. “I filed the FIRs after finding written complaint filed by three women members of the vaccination team was true,” he said.
Prasad filed another complaint late last evening against Tiwari and 25-30 others, accusing them of manhandling, misbehaving, abusing and threatening him. “Sanjay Tiwari and 25-30 other persons intimidated me again at Kadma New Farm Area vaccination centre yesterday when I reached there around 12.15 pm,” he said.
Tiwari, however, dismissed the allegations against him by terming them concocted and baseless. “Who am I to give vaccination to anyone? Moreover, none from 18-44 year age group can be given vaccine without slot booking,” he said. He also denied intimidating the executive magistrate and said it was general public which created ruckus as computer operators arrived late at the centre.
