On 22^nd June 2021, the Bombay High Court took notice of the recent increase in the COVID 19 vaccination frauds in Mumbai. The Court thereby directed the police to send the court a status report of their investigation into such scams by Thursday. The court has also asked the BMC and Maharashtra Government to inform the court about the procedure and plan of action that the authorities will adopt in collaboration with housing societies, in order to ensure no more such fake drives are undertaken.

Court was astonished and stated that it is unimaginable that even now, when we are in middle of crisis where humanity is suffering, people are still committing such frauds. The court also suggested that Disaster Management Act and Epidemic Disease Act shall be invoked against those who commit such frauds, as there have been various cases where people are being injected with water instead of Corona Vaccine. This case came up when 5 people were caught by police regarding the same type of fraud last week.

The court stated that the state government should treat this issue with utmost seriousness and there should be no delay in the investigation against such frauds. The bench suggested that a system can be put forward by the BMC in order to keep track of the vaccines that are being used at camps held in schools, residential societies and corporate houses. This can be achieved with the help of the health officials and authorities that are responsible for handling the vaccines and it’s supply. Thus the need to form such guidelines is important and essential need of hour.

Also the BMC informed the court that the police has already started their investigation and necessary steps and actions are being taken by the authorities to tackle this situation as soon as possible.

– Animesh Raizada, Intern