Botched surgeries: Congress takes up matter with President

New Delhi: Alleging a cover-up, Congress has taken up with President Pranab Mukherjee the issue of the death of 14 women in botched up sterilisation surgeries in BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh.

AICC legal department secretary KC Mittal has sent a written communication in this regard to Mukherjee last evening and has sought an appointment on behalf of lawyers from Chattisgarh.

"We take this opportunity to bring to your kind notice the ghastly incident of killing of 14 innocent Dalit and tribal women and leaving 63 others in critical condition, during botched surgeries, in government-sponsored camps in state of Chhattisgarh.

"This incident has shattered and shaken the entire nation and every human being, which reveals negligence and indifference of the state Government, headed by Chief Minister Raman Singh towards its people. Unfortunately, the attempt of the state government and the central government has been to cover-up the incident and to shield the real culprits by downplaying the whole issue," Mittal said in the letter.

He alleged that what was even more alarming is that according to reports, primary evidence like spurious drugs and other incriminating material and records, from all over the state, which could fix criminality and identify persons responsible, is being "destroyed to protect and save actual offenders".

Maintaining that it is not a case comparable to common complaints of medical negligence by doctors or hospitals, the Congress leader said in this case there is much more to understand and expose the drug mafia and the racket involved in the purchase and supplying of spurious and sub-standard drugs in the state, endangering human lives.

"The nexus between manufacturers, suppliers, bureaucrats and the political heads of the state, indulging in corruption for purchase, supply, distribution and administration of such spurious drugs and playing with the human lives must be booked and taken to task.

"The destruction of drugs and other incriminating evidence by the state government and persons involved will make it impossible to reach the real culprits and unravel the nexus," he said.