CJI Gavai Rejects PIL for Court-Monitored Probe into Child Deaths from Toxic Cough Syrup

A Tragedy of National Proportions

The case was taken to the top court following a series of tragic events in which after giving the children who had taken over the counter cough syrups, they developed acute kidney failure which led to their deaths. Health authorities investigations found out that these syrups had toxic industrial solvents such as diethylene glycol (DEG) and ethylene glycol. These are toxic chemicals that are fatal when consumed even in low doses.

The events caused a lot of social anger and sorrow, and the question of the safety and regulation of the pharmaceutical sector in India was put into serious consideration. The deaths did not just happen in a single area and this means that there might be a breakdown of system in terms of quality control and regulation. Being so rampant the tragedy encouraged the public health activists to request the maximum judicial intervention in order to organize an impartial and in-depth investigation.

The fatalities were a clear wake-up call of how vulnerable the consumers, especially children are, and the catastrophic effects of carelessness in the drug production process. The emotional and factual foundation of the plea to have a Supreme Court-overseen investigation came in the similarity of incidences of such contamination throughout the years.

The Plea for a Court-Monitored Probe

The petitioner filed the Public Interest Litigation (PLI) claiming that this scale of the tragedy and the participation of several states and possibly strong pharmaceutical firms were enough reasons to conduct an investigation under the supervision of the Supreme Court itself. The petitioner was not confident in the ordinary process of investigation because he feared that the process might be tedious, ineffective, or was prone to being influenced.

The petition had asked the court to establish a Special Investigation Team (SIT), which would answer straight to the Supreme Court. It was argued that such a mechanism would guarantee accountability, transparency and speed in ensuring that the culprits are taken to justice. The petitioner argued that only the direct supervision of the supreme court of the country could allow people to trust the system again and avoid such a tragedy in the future.

Court-monitored investigation is a drastic step that the Supreme Court will only use in extraordinary cases, which is usually when there is evidence that the normal investigative apparatus has been unsuccessful or has been prejudiced. The petitioner claimed that when dozens of children died due to one of the licensed medical products, this exactly represented an unusual situation that forced the court to directly intervene.

The Supreme Court’s Rationale for Rejection

The Chief Justice, Gavai, who headed the bench, clarified that the court in as much as it could sympathize with the petitioner, it was not ready to assume the investigation at this point. According to the CJI, the major purpose of the court is not to become an investigative organ. He also stressed the principle of the separation of powers, in which the investigation falls under the executive branch, that is, the police as well as other specialized agencies.

The court saw that the court could not turn into a sort of supervisory agency on all the major crimes or tragedies in the country. CJI Gavai noted that the corresponding state police departments and the central drug regulatory authority already carried out investigations. According to what the court said, it has to rely on these agencies first to perform a proper and fair investigation before interfering.

The refusal was supported by the law of judicial restraint. The court opinion was that it would only interfere in successful instances of clear and provable malfeasance by the specified investigative agencies. The court by refusing the PIL indicated that it did not have confidence in presuming that the regular procedure would collapse upon itself thus displaying trust in the institutional processes that were in place.

The Path Forward for the Investigation

The ruling of the Supreme Court implies the investigation of the fatal cases of the toxic cough syrup will be performed according to the existing legal provisions. The law enforcing agencies in the respective states will carry on with their criminal investigations to find those who had done the contamination. Simultaneously, the regulatory side will be addressed by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) and the individual drug controllers in the states, as the manufacturing licenses will be reviewed, and the safety measures will be enhanced.

To the bereaved families of the victims, this ruling could be disappointing since they expected a more immediate and direct justice to be administered by the supreme court. Their search of responsibility has been left to be based on the efficacy and purity of police and drug control management. What the court did however was to leave the petitioner opportunities to get back to it in future in case the petitioner feels that the current investigations are not going on satisfactorily.

This decision supports the stance of the Supreme Court on the PILs that require probes that are monitored by the court. It establishes a high criterion in order that this potent vehicle is used summons very rarely and in situations of the most pressing exigency. It is now time to revert to the executive agencies who are facing enormous pressure of the people and media to come up with an acceptable investigation and dispense justice in the name of the young lives that were prematurely ended.