SHRC tells govt to pay Rs 5 lakh to family of custodial death victim

SHRC tells govt to pay Rs 5 lakh to family of custodial death victim

The Commission stated the doctors, to help the police, had falsely created a postmortem certificate and a final report and suppressed the real fact which would amount to dereliction of their duty.

Published: 06th June 2020 06:50 AM | Last Updated: 06th June 2020 06:50 AM 

By Express News Service

CHENNAI: The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has recommended the State to pay Rs 5 lakh to the family of a person who allegedly died in the custody of Tiruppur police in 2015. The Commission has also asked the government to take disciplinary action against Special Sub-Inspector N Krishnan; DSP S Shanmugaiah of NIB CID, Coimbatore; HOD of Forensic Medicine in Coimbatore Medical College Hospital T Jayasingh; Assistant Jailor V Chandrasekar of Tirupur Sub Jail and also a witness P Pandeeswaran, Tutor in Forensic Medicine.

According to the complaint by S Sathya of Theni, her late husband Sanjeevi owned a car, which he had let out for hire. On December 28, 2014, two personnel from Velampalayam police station in Tirupur district inquired about her husband stating that he was involved in a theft case. Sathya left for her parents’ house after the incident. Four days later Sanjeevi died in the custody of police. 

The commission observed, “It is established that the police had assaulted Sanjeevi during the custody and he died due to the injuries sustained by him. But it was suppressed with the help of the Assistant Jailor and the doctors who conducted postmortem.”

The Commission stated the doctors, to help the police, had falsely created a postmortem certificate and a final report and suppressed the real fact which would amount to dereliction of their duty.

AU ranked fourth in academics and research

IN BRIEF

07/06/2020

AU ranked fourth in academics and research

Andhra University has been ranked fourth by Natureindex ranking group in academics and research. Expressing happiness, Vice- Chancellor P.V.G.D. Prasada Reddy said that it was the effort of the teaching and supporting staff. IIT-Bhubaneswar and IIT Bombay has secured first and second ranks.

AU students vacate hostels

AU students vacate hostels

‘Hostels to be turned into quarantine centres’

07/06/2020, STAFF REPORTER,VISAKHAPATNAM

Caught unawares: Many hostellers and parents alleged that there was no proper information from the varsity officials.K.R. DeepakK.R. Deepak

Chaos prevailed at a few hostels in Andhra University, as a number of students reached the campus to take back their luggage as the hostels are going to be turned into COVID-19 quarantine centres shortly.

Many hostellers as well as parents were furious alleging that there was no proper information from the varsity. A few students were seen taking out belongings of their friends who were not able to come being residents of containment zones or from other districts.

“No one has informed us neither did the department heads cared to call us. When we called one of our professors, he admitted that hostels are going to be turned into quarantine centres and asked us to take our luggage back,” said a student who had come to pick up luggage from Narsipatnam. AU officials could not be contacted.

Slot booking for pharmacy degree registrations soon

Slot booking for pharmacy degree registrations soon

Talks on with National Science Centre officials, says Registrar

07/06/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT ,VIJAYAWADA

The Andhra Pradesh Pharmacy Council has said that online slot booking facility will be made available soon to candidates who have completed their degree in Pharmacy.

Registrar Ramamurthy said talks were in progress with the National Science Centre officials and candidates would have to upload their certificates in online mode and mention them in details in their job applications. Mr. Ramamurthy said the registration process had to be stopped due to the lockdown but in emergency cases, candidates can directly approach for registration.

The online slot booking facility may become available from June 10, Mr. Ramamurthy added.

Country is still at risk, says WHO expert

Country is still at risk, says WHO expert

07/06/2020

He stressed that as the disease generated and gained a foothold in communities, it could accelerate at any time as had been seen in a number of settings.

Mr. Ryan noted that measures taken in India, like the nationwide lockdown, had helped to slow transmission, but the risk of an increase in cases loomed as the country opened up. “The measures taken in India certainly had an impact in dampening transmission and as India, as in other large countries, opens up and as people begin to move again, there’s always a risk of the disease bouncing back up.”

He added that there were specific issues in India regarding the large amount of migration, the dense populations in the urban environment and the fact that many workers had no choice but to go to work every day.

WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan said the over 2,00,000 current novel coronavirus cases in India, a country of over 1.3 billion people, “look big but for a country of this size, it’s still modest.” She stressed that it was important for India to keep track of the growth rate and the doubling time of the cases and make sure that the number did not get worse.

She said India is a heterogeneous and huge country with very densely populated cities and a much lower density in some rural areas and varying health systems in different States, and these factors posed challenges to the control of COVID-19.

Ms. Swaminathan added that as the lockdown and restrictions were lifted, it must be ensured that people took all precautions. “We’ve been making this point repeatedly that really if you want behaviour change at a large level, people need to understand the rationale for asking them to do certain things [such as] wearing masks,” she said.

Many booked for spreading ‘false news’ on TTD

Many booked for spreading ‘false news’ on TTD

Police register cases based on a complaint filed by temple officials

07/06/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,TIRUMALA

Tirumala police registered cases against individuals, administrators of news apps, and social media users allegedly for spreading fallacious information against the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD).

The cases were registered based on a complaint lodged by TTD officials.

Tirumala Two Town police, who had earlier booked a case against an individual for claiming that TTD member trustee Sudha Narayana Murthy resigned from her trusteeship, also registered a complaint against Tamil actor Sivakumar based on a complaint lodged by a person named Tamilmaniyan.

“Mr. Sivakumar is spreading false information against the temple administration, and is urging the public not to visit Tirumala, on the grounds that anti-social activities are going on in the town,” Mr. Tamilmaniyan said in an email to the TTD.

Perturbed at the gravity of the allegations in Mr. Tamilmaniyan’s email, TTD officials lodged a complaint with the police.

A complaint was also lodged against Macharla Srinivasulu, Prashanth, and Mungara Sivaraju, administrators of ‘way2news’ app, and Tirupati Vaartha, for spreading false information that devotees will not be allowed for darshan at the temple till June 30.

False information posted on a WhatsApp group called ‘Godavari News’ allegedly caused a lot of chaos and confusion among devotees, prompting the police to register a case under the A.P. Epidemic Diseases Act.

A case was registered against a Facebook user who posted objectionable content on his page on May 7.

Maharashtra to buy remdesivir at ₹12 crore

Maharashtra to buy remdesivir at ₹12 crore

It will procure 10,000 vials from Bangladesh if Indian companies do not have the required stock

07/06/2020, JYOTI SHELAR,MUMBAI

Checks widen: A health worker collecting samples for COVID-19 at Dharavi in Mumbai on Saturday. Vijay BateVijay Bate

Maharashtra is planning to procure 10,000 vials of remdesivir, an anti-viral drug that is being tried globally on patients with severe COVID-19. Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Saturday said the drug would be procured with nearly ₹12 crore in CSR funds.

Remdesivir, a broad-spectrum anti-viral injection, was earlier tried for Ebola. It was approved by the Drug Controller-General of India early this week for “restricted emergency use”. Currently, its safety and efficacy in the treatment of COVID-19 are being tested in phase-three clinical trials. “We are reaching out to all the companies that have received the licence to make the drug. We will be procuring it from the company that offers it at the lowest rates,” said T.P. Lahane, head of the Directorate of Medical Education and Research.

The U.S.-based Gilead Sciences that has made the drug has signed non-exclusive voluntary licensing agreements with five generic pharmaceutical manufacturers — Cipla Ltd., Ferozsons Laboratories, Hetero Labs Ltd., Jubilant Lifesciences and Mylan — based in India and Pakistan to expand supply of the drug. The company hopes to make it available in July. Two Bangladesh companies have announced production of the generic version of the drug under World Trade Organisation provisions that allow waiver of licences for the least developed countries. Gilead has maintained that it cannot verify the authenticity or effectiveness of a product not manufactured by itself or its licensed partners.

Mr. Tope, however, said the State might consider getting the drug from Bangladesh if Indian companies do not have the required stock.

The COVID-19 task force has made four important recommendations to reduce mortality. The recommendations include making remdesivir and another anti-viral drug favipiravir available for patients. While remdesivir has been procured for over 15 patients on compassionate grounds, fast-track trials for favipiravir are under way at many hospitals. The task force has also pushed for wider availability of re-purposed arthritis drug tocilizumab and psoriasis drug itolizumab, which have shown efficacy in reducing cytokine storm in COVID-19 patients. “Additionally, convalescent plasma therapy should be made available widely,” said task force member Dr. Shashank Joshi.