 "Why an Indian has been sentenced in Uzbekistan for cough syrup deaths")
An Uzbekistan court on Monday sentenced 21 people to prison for the deaths of 68 children caused by contaminated cough syrup produced in India.
Between 2022 and 2023, at least 86 children were poisoned in the Central Asian country, of whom 68 died.
The defendants were convicted of tax evasion, selling substandard or counterfeit medicines, abuse of office, negligence, forgery, and bribery.
The court imposed long prison terms ranging from two to 20 years, with India’s Singh Raghvendra Pratap receiving the maximum of 20 years.
Here’s who is he? What was his involvement in the case, and what did the court say?
Between 2022 and 2023, 68 children in Uzbekistan died from a contaminated cough syrup produced in India. These syrups were produced by Marion Biotech in India and distributed by Quramax Medical in Uzbekistan. Singh Raghvendra Pratap served as the executive director of Quramax Medical.
He has been found guilty of corruption, tax fraud, and forgery by Uzbekistan’s Supreme Court, and has received the longest sentence of 20 years in the case.
According to Reuters, former senior officials who had been responsible for licencing imported medicine were also handed lengthy sentences.
The victims’ families will be compensated, with each of the families of the 68 children who died after consuming the syrup, as well as the families of the four additional children who had disabilities, receiving $80,000 (Rs 66.30 lakh), as reported by Times of India.
Furthermore, eight more drug-affected children’s parents will receive payments ranging from $16,000 to $40,000 (Rs 13.26 lakh to Rs 33.15). Compensation will be collected from seven of the convicts, according to the Supreme Court statement, reports the TOI report.
Quick Reads
View AllIn January 2023, the World Health Organisation discovered that samples of the syrup contained either diethylene glycol or ethylene glycol, hazardous chemicals used as industrial solvents that can be lethal in small doses.
India subsequently cancelled the production licence for Marion Biotech, which manufactured the cough syrups.
**Also read: India finds 2 more toxic cough syrups: What we know about them**During the same period, at least 70 children died in The Gambia from acute kidney failure after consuming another syrup imported from India.
In Indonesia, another syrup in similar containers caused the deaths of more than 200 children between 2022 and 2023.
With inputs from AFP
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