HC seeks response from SII, others on plea demanding Rs 1,000 crore compensation for woman's death

Representative Image. Work on a vaccine assembly line at the Serum Institute in Pune.

The Bombay High Court has sought response from the Serum Institute of India (SII) and others on a petition filed by a man who blamed Covishield for his daughter’s death and demanded a compensation of Rs 1,000 crore from the Indian vaccine-maker.

Petitioner Dilip Lunwat has also made Microsoft founder Bill Gates whose foundation had partnered with the SII, the Union government, Maharashtra government and Drug Controller of India respondents to the plea.

A division bench of Justices S V Gangapurwala and Madhav Jamdar on August 26 issued a notice to all the respondents in the petition. The matter has been posted for hearing on November 17.

The petitioner claimed that his daughter Snehal Lunawat, a medical student, was compelled to take the anti-coronavirus Covishield vaccine made by the SII at her college in Nashik on January 28, 2021, as she was a health worker.

A few days later, Snehal suffered severe headache and vomiting and was taken to a hospital where doctors said she had bleeding in her brain, the petition said. Snehal died on March 1, 2021, and side-effects of the vaccine were the cause, it claimed.

The petition relied on a report submitted by the Central government’s Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) committee on October 2, 2021, which purportedly admitted that his daughter’s death was due to the side-effects of Covishield. The petition demanded a compensation of Rs 1,000 crore from the SII.