JOIN USApex court notice to Centre on cervical cancer vaccines
The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre on a PIL seeking direction to cancel licence of two vaccines, which had been used on 24,000 tribal women in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat for treatment of cervical cancer, on the grounds that their efficacies were not known.
A bench of justices K S Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra sought response from the government which contended that the Drugs Controller issued licences for the vaccines without adequate research on safety as directed by Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare in 2010.
Petitioner Kalpana Mehta and other health activists alleged that the vaccines — Gardasil and Cervarix — are unproven and hazardous and human papilloma virus vaccines were being marketed in India by MSD Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd and GlaxoSmithKline Ltd.
“Both vaccines were licensed in India without sufficient clinical trials in appropriate age groups to determine their safety and efficacy. There have been violations at each step.
Right from licensing their import and administration to unexposed age groups; to selective changes in product information; to not updating product information and even in refusing to carry out post marketing studies, the two companies have undermined the authority of the Drugs Controller and defrauded Indian citizens,” they alleged.
The Indian Council for Medical Research had signed a memorandum of understanding with PATH, a US-based NGO, to execute a project regarding these vaccines. PATH in collaboration with the governments of Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat had subsequently administered the vaccines, the petition alleged.
Centre’s plea
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear the Union government’s plea seeking clarification on and expunging of its observation that members of banned outfits could not be treated as criminals unless they themselves had incited violence or indulged in it.
A bench of Justices G S Singhvi and Gyan Sudha Misra sought responses from the two appellants—Arup Bhuyan and Indra Das—on the petition filed by the Centre.
“Mere membership of a banned organisation will not make a person a criminal unless he resorts to violence or incites people to violence or creates public disorder by violence or incitement to violence,” a bench of Justices Markandey Katju and Misra had earlier held.
The bench had then acquitted Bhuyan and Das of the offences under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act for allegedly being members of banned United Liberation Front of Asom.
The court had held that provisions of the Tada or Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, making mere membership of a banned organisation a punishable offence, must be read down. Otherwise, the law would become unconstitutional for violating of Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution, it said.
Govt can’t justify fake encounters, says SC
The apex court on Monday said the government cannot justify illegal custodial deaths or fake encounters on the pretext of policemen killed in fight against insurgency or terrorism.
The court said it had to intervene in such a case where a person’s right to life was affected by the state action. “For this Court, the life of a policeman or a member of the security forces is no less precious and valuable than any other person.”