A petition in the Bombay High Court on Wednesday, 5 May, sough registration of an FIR against those allegedly threatening Adar Poonawala, CEO of Serum Institute of India (SII), which manufactures the Covishield vaccine.
The plea, filed by Advocate Datta Mane, seeks further directions to the Pune Police to provide ‘Z plus’ security to Poonawalla, his family members and protect SII’s assets/properties under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.
The plea comes on the heels of Poonawalla’s interview with The Times on 2 May where he alleged that he had been receiving threats in India and said that he and his family have left the country and were in London after unprecedented “pressure and aggression” over the demands for the COVID-19 vaccine.
“I don’t want to be in a situation where you are trying to do your job and just because you can’t supply the needs of X, Y or Z, you really don’t want to guess what they are going to do,” he said, adding, “Everything falls on my shoulders, but I can’t do it alone,” he told The Times.
“It’s not foul language. It’s the tone. It’s the implication of what they might do if I don’t comply. It’s taking control. It’s coming over and basically surrounding the place and not letting us do anything unless we give in to their demands.”Adar Poonawalla to The Times
In his plea, Advocate Datta Mane states that Poonawalla and his family are “life savers of India.”
“If Mr Adar Poonawalla is out of India due to fear to his life, then it will be ship in storm without its captian. Mr Poonawalla and SII have become life savers of the Indian population, and hence the government must protect them. However, the Chief Ministers have indulged into giving threats; hence, the court-monitored security protection (Z plus) is required to be given.”Advocate Datta Mane in his plea to the Bombay High Court
The petitioner further claimed that the ‘Y Security’ protection given to Poonawalla after he left the country was an eyewash.
"If their lives and properties of the serum institute are not protected, it will lead to a chaotic situation about vaccination and will ultimately lead to loss of lakhs of lives."
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