According to Prabhat Kumar, SHO, Dharchula police station, the Chief Medical Officer, Dr H C Pant of Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand, has filed a case against S K Enterprises, a Delhi-based firm, for allegedly providing defective and used medical equipment, including surgical gloves and syringes.
On Sunday (June 6, 2021) the case was filed at Dharchula police station under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860.
Prabhat Kumar said, "S K Enterprises, based in Delhi, has been charged under the IPC sections 420, 409, and 51B, as well as the Disaster Management Act. The gloves and other medical equipment provided to the hospital have been seized. More research is being carried out." The police have seized a total of 2,300 gloves.
In the Indian Penal Code, Section 420 deals with cheating and misleading property delivery. Under this section, the maximum penalty is a seven-year prison sentence plus a fine. Section 409 says Everybody who, in the name of a banker, a merchant, a factor, a broker, a lawyer or an agent of the same nature, commits any criminal breach of trust in relation to that property in his capacity of public servant or in the manner of his business as a banker, merchant, shall be punished either by life imprisonment, or by prison for a term of ten or so descriptions. And Section 51B describes the word "oath" which contains a solemn assertion substituted for oath by law and any declaration required or legally authorised to take place before or for the purpose of the evidence before the public servant, whether or not at the Court of Justice.
Anand Swaroop, the District Magistrate of Pithoragarh, had directed the Chief Medical Officer to file a FIR on Wednesday. When the problem was brought to DM's attention, he went to the Dharchula Community Health Centre, where supplies were sent to investigate the problem.
"The officers opened a new packet of gloves in front of me and informed me that they were used gloves. Those used gloves came from new, sealed packets, as I witnessed. This is a serious oversight ", the DM had stated earlier on the matter.
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