HC DIRECTS MAHA TO ENSURE POONAWALLA’S SECURITY
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday said that the Maharashtra government must assure Adar Poonawalla, the CEO of Serum Institute of India, of adequate security in the wake of alleged threats to him over the supply of the ‘Covishield’ vaccine manufactured by his company.
A vacation bench of Justices S.S. Shinde and Abhay Ahuja was hearing a petition filed by city based lawyer Datta Mane seeking Z+ security for Poonawalla, claiming that the news reports showed that he left the country due to fear.
Even though the Union government has already granted ‘Y’ category security to the Punebased industrialist, the petitioner through his lawyer Pradip Havnur, told the court that as per news reports, Poonawalla had been living in fear due to constant pressure from politicians and some others demanding that he provide more supply of the Covishield vaccine to their states.
Mane in his petition further said that Poonawalla had left for London due to such threats.
Notably, the SII CEO in an interview had revealed that he has been receiving threats and pressure from ‘powerful people’ seeking vaccine doses on priority.
The bench said the state must not consider the petition as an adversarial litigation and the state’s top officials must personally speak to Poonawalla and assure him of his safety upon his return to India.
The bench directed state’s counsel Deepak Thakare to speak to the government officials and convey the court’s concerns. “Please speak to the highest state functionaries, maybe the state home minister, and assurance must be given to him (Poonawalla) from the top. They should talk to him personally” the HC said.