Rajiv Gandhi birth anniversary: Minors donated blood, says probe panel report

The two-member panel comprising Additional Collector M P Swamy and Chief Medical and Health Officer K K Bajaj last night submitted a 20-page report to Collector Kuldeep Ranka on the blood donation camp at Chomu, a sub-urban town of Jaipur, official sources said today.
However, it was not revealed whether the report fixed any responsibility on local MLA Bhagwan Sahay Saini, against whom a court ordered registration of an FIR for allegedly forcing minors to participate in the blood donation camp, or any other Congress leader.

Statements of 60 witnesses including school children were recorded besides the principal and staff of the government senior secondary school in Chomu, the sources said.
About 20 children were found to be minors in the school records while their age in the donation camp record was above 18, the sources claimed.

On a complaint, Chief Judicial Magistrate Dhirendra Singh Rajawat had ordered the police on Monday to register an FIR against Saini.
Narendra Singh, SHO of Chomu Police Station, said that he had received the court order this afternoon and it was being studied.
"Since the matter involves an elected representative, it would be finally dealt by the state crime branch," he said.

The case would be registered under Section 23 of Juvenile Justice Care and Protection of Child Act, 2000, Singh said
The Collector would probably send the report after studying it and holding discussion with the state government to the medical and education departments separately for action and formulating suggestion to all schools on future course of blood donations, the sources said.
The Opposition BJP had alleged that most of the students who donated blood in the camp were below 18 years of age. The incident sparked an uproar after a student fell ill after donating blood and was admitted to a hospital here.