The High Court (HC) has directed the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) to give Tk 15 lakh as compensation to each of the families of the 104 children, who died after taking toxic paracetamol syrup in 1991 and 2009.
The HC bench of Justice Md Ashraful Kamal and Justice Razik-Al-Jalil delivered the verdict on Thursday (June 2) following a writ petition filed by the Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB) in 2010 seeking necessary directives on the issue.
Delivering the verdict, the HC bench also ordered the Drug Administration to collect the money from the companies or persons who are responsible for producing the toxic paracetamol syrup, after paying the amounts to the victims’ families.
The HC bench observed that the directorate can’t avoid the responsibility of the incidents that killed 104 children.
The higher court directed the authorities concerned of the government to take appropriate action against the responsible companies and persons under the relevant section of the Special Powers Act.
Petitioner’s lawyer Manzill Murshid said that 79 children had died in 1991 and 28 died in 2009 after taking toxic paracetamol syrup and the Directorate General of Drug Administration will have to give Tk 15 lakh to each of the families of the 104 children immediately after receiving the HC judgement.
A total of 28 children, aged between 1 and 5, had died in six weeks in 2009. Most of the deaths had been reported from Brahmanbaria, where the factory of Paracetamol syrup was located.
Later on July 22 in 2009, the Drug Administration sealed off the factory of Rid Pharmaceuticals Limited in BSCIC area of Brahmanbaria following the incident of children’s death, and findings of Dhaka Shishu Hospital that Rid Pharma’s Temset had toxic substance.
Cases were filed in this connection. In the verdict issued in 2016, the Dhaka Drug Court had acquitted all the five accused, top officials of Rid Pharmaceuticals Limited, of the charges of producing and marketing toxic Paracetamol syrup.
It was reported that negligence, inefficiency and incompetence of the Drug Administration in dealing with the case led to the acquittal of all the accused.
In the verdict, the court also observed that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges against the accused due to negligence in the investigation, and the filing of the case. The court found negligence and inefficiency of Drug Administration for its failure to collect evidence properly.
