An Indian court has declared that the multiple deaths among Coronavirus-infected people in hospitals across the country due to lack of oxygen constitute a crime of “genocide” committed by the officials concerned.
Yesterday, the Allahabad City High Court (Prayag) asked authorities in two districts of Uttar Pradesh state to verify the authenticity of reports of oxygen shortage in local hospitals, stressing that the death of the injured due to this reason constituted “a criminal act no less than genocide committed at the hands of those responsible for ensuring continuity in the storage and supply of liquid medical oxygen.
The court referred to reports of tampering with oxygen cylinders and exposure of poor citizens who demanded to provide their seriously ill families with oxygen harassed by police and local authorities, pointing out that these reports fundamentally contradicted the government’s claims that oxygen supplies existed in the country.
The court asked, “How can we allow the death of our citizens in this manner at a time when science has advanced to a level where heart transplants and brain surgeries can now be performed?”
This comes as India battles a Coronavirus outbreak on a scale unprecedented in the world, with the capacity of the health system exhausted due to the pressure on it.
