Gorakhpur tragedy: SC refuses to intervene; NHRC seeks report from UP govt in 4 weeks

Gorakhpur: Hitting out at the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the Congress party has demanded a Supreme Court monitored probe into the tragic death of over 70 children at Gorakhpur's Baba Raghav Das Medical College's Hospital due to alleged disruption of liquid oxygen supply.

Speaking to ANI, Congress leader Tom Vadakkan said it is a complete administrative failure at their end and if MoS Health Faggan Singh Kulaste thinks that there is a conspiracy then a Supreme Court-monitored enquiry would be ideal.

This comes even as the UP government removed Dr Kafeel Khan as the Nodal Officer for the Department of Pediatrics of the BRD hospital.

Dr Bhupendra Sharma has now been given the charge of the nodal officer of Pediatric Department, while Dr PK Singh, Principal of Rajkiya Medical College, Ambedkar Nagar, has been given additional charge of BRD Medical College.

In a related development, the Supreme Court today refused to take 'suo moto' cognizance of incidents of child deaths in Gorakhpur hospital.

Rejecting the plea which sought a SIT probe in matter, the apex court asked the petitioner to approach High Court in this regard.

Meanwhile, the NHRC today issued a notice to the UP government over the tragedy and sought a detailed report in 4 weeks. 

Speaking on the issue, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on August 13 that he is tremendously affected by the death of over 70 children while reiterating that a probe will be instigated and the guilty will be severely punished.

Stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is deeply concerned and has offered complete support, Adityanath said that nobody can be more sensitive than him in the regard.

"Nobody can be more sensitive towards those children than me. Prime Minister is very concerned and he assured complete assistance from the Centre. Prime Minister has also sent Union Health Minister JP Nadda to take cognizance of the situation," Adityanath said.

Tragedy continued to descend upon Gorakhpur's Baba Raghav Das Medical College hospital as another child succumbed to encephalitis today, taking the death toll over 70 on August 13.

11 children died on August 12 and, until Friday, the death toll stood at 60.

According to data procured from the BRD hospital, in five days - from August 7 to August 11, a total of 60 deaths were reported at the hospital. 

With ANI inputs