Hisar ASJ sets aside grant of bail to remdesivir black marketers

Setting aside two orders of the Hisar chief judicial magistrate (CJM) granting bail to three persons accused of black marketing of remdesivir, administered to hospitalised Covid-19 patients, Hisar additional sessions judge (ASJ) Ved Parkash Sirohi has said that perpetrators of such crime deserve no sympathy of the court

Setting aside two orders of the Hisar chief judicial magistrate (CJM) granting bail to three persons accused of black marketing of remdesivir, administered to hospitalised Covid-19 patients, Hisar additional sessions judge (ASJ) Ved Parkash Sirohi has said that perpetrators of such crime deserve no sympathy of the court.

“Black-marketers of Covid medicines, especially remdesivir, have no pity on patients and their relatives. They have exploited the situation at the cost of lives of patients,” the ASJ said. (HT FILE)

In his May 31 order on a criminal revision petition filed by the Hisar police, the ASJ said while the Supreme Court has directed the government to take immediate steps to stop black marketing of remdesivir injections, the CJM has released three accused, who were caught red-handed selling remdesivir at exorbitant prices, on bail within 3-5 days.

“Black-marketers of Covid medicines, especially remdesivir, have no pity on patients and their relatives. They have exploited the situation at the cost of lives of patients. They hoarded life-saving drugs and sold them at exorbitant rates taking undue advantage of the serious condition of poor patients,” the court order said.

“Such crime is certainly against the society and perpetrators of such crime deserved no sympathy of the court. In cases where the offence is so heinous, the CJM had no jurisdiction to entertain the matter, the grant of bail by the CJM cannot be said to be justified from any angle,” the court order added.

“The CJM’s May 5 and 11 orders granting bail to accused Arun Khurana, owner of Holy Hospital Medical Store in Hisar, and Parth Khurana and Mukesh Malik of National Medical Hall of Nagori Gate in Hisar suffered from illegality, irregularity and perversity and are set aside,” the ASJ said.

As per court orders, Arun and Parth were allegedly caught red-handed selling remdesivir injections (100mg/vial) for ₹40,000 while its maximum retail price is just ₹3,400. Two more remdesivir injections were recovered from Parth’s car and four from the possession of Mukesh Malik.

The accused were booked for commission of offence under Sections 18(A), 18(C) and 27(B)(ii) of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, Section 51(B) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, Sections 3 and 7 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 and Sections 420 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Malik was arrested on the basis of disclosure statement by Parth to the police during investigation. Parth told the cops that he had purchased three remdesivir injections from Malik for ₹30,000 each. The original bill and tax invoice of three remdesivir injections were recovered from Malik’s possession, the court order read.

“The court said the offence under Section 18-A of the Drugs Act is triable by the court of sessions or special court. The court of additional sessions judge (2nd) has been constituted as special court for trial of such offences. Perusal of Section 36-AC of the Drugs Act also makes it clear that the application for grant of bail under the aforesaid Sections of the Drugs Act can only be entertained by the special court. Thus, the Hisar CJM had no jurisdiction to entertain the applications for grant of bail to the accused and she has acted beyond jurisdiction,” ASJ Sirohi said.