She served only 53 days
The woman physician, convicted of poisoning children's paracetamol, served only 53 days of her sentence after a drug court on July 22 last year jailed her for 10 years.
Owner of now defunct Adflame Pharmaceuticals, Helena Pasha challenged the lower court's verdict in the High Court and secured bail from it on September 11 on health grounds. She then claimed to be 78 years old.
Her trial in the Adflame case opened in 1992, but the trial had been stayed for 14 years since 1994 following an HC order.
Neither the complainant, Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA), nor any other government offices, including the Attorney General's office, made any move in 14 years to vacate the stay.
An investigation by The Daily Star in 2009 revealed that even after the HC had spontaneously revoked its stay on the trial and sent the case documents to the drug court, a lower court clerk concealed the documents under piles of other case documents.
The trial in the case finally resumed that year and the verdict came 22 years after the opening of the trial.
Former Dhaka Drug Court Judge Abdur Rashid in his verdict said the accused committed “a heinous crime against the society, children and humanity as well.”
At least 76 children were killed across the country in 1992 after taking toxic paracetamol syrup.
Deputy Attorney General Shafiul Bashar Bhandary didn't see any point in appealing against the HC bail order. Asked about ensuring justice for the deaths of so many children, Shafiul last year said it was not a matter of concern for him, but for journalists.
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam yesterday said he was never informed of the physician's bail. “Had I known about the bail, I would have immediately taken a move for challenging and cancelling the bail order.”
Prosecutor Khurshid Alam Khan of the Anti-Corruption Commission said the state must ensure that Helena's petition was disposed of by the HC soon and she got punished for her offence. “It's the only way to deal with the issue.”
Helena's brother Mizanur Rahman, a manager of Adflame Pharmaceuticals, is also on bail in the case. The siblings had their bails renewed by the HC until disposal of their appeals pending with the court, their lawyer Khondker Bashir Ahmed told the Daily Star yesterday.
Victims' parents were frustrated by the uncertainty surrounding the trial.
A victim's mother questioned, “Didn't we tell you [this newspaper] a few years ago that laws are made to protect rich people?”
Seeking anonymity, she said nine children died from renal failure in her neighborhood alone after taking paracetamol syrup supplied by the government medicine shop to the grade-three staff quarter of Bangabhaban.
Even after the trial resumed in 2009, complainant Abul Khair, a DGDA director, testified that he could hardly recall anything about the test.
During the 2009 investigation by this newspaper, he said he didn't know that trials in several cases were stayed in 1994. He ended up in jail for disregarding 18 summonses from the drug court to appear before it for testifying in two cases against six owners and staff of BCI (Bangladesh) Ltd.
In 1992, a laboratory test found that three other companies were also producing adulterated syrup. The test was carried out in a government laboratory under the supervision of a DGDA official and a representative of World Health Organization.
One of the companies, City Chemical, was never sued allegedly for its links with the then BNP government high-ups.
Another company Rex Pharma was acquitted of the charges in 2003 by a Mymensingh drug court as the prosecution didn't submit the laboratory test results to it. The complainant of the case, DGDA official Thomas K Bishwas, migrated to the USA after quitting job.
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said he would challenge the Rex Pharma verdict in the HC, provided he was given details of the case.
The trial of the fourth pharmaceutical company, Polychem Laboratories, is underway in a drug court.
The Law Commission last year carried out a probe into the delay in trials and found that “sheer indifference by DGDA” caused the delay.
It made 16 recommendations to the government which include reforming the judiciary to “improve this intolerable legal crisis.”
The government never opened an enquiry to bring to book those responsible for the crisis.
A study by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University said at least 2,700 children died after receiving the drug between 1982 and 1992.
Such deaths would have continued if a brave physician, Dr Hanif, had not tested samples of the syrup at a USA lab in 1992 and present the findings at a press conference.
A drug court yesterday sentenced Shahjhan Sarkar to imprisonment for 20 years and fined Tk 4 lakh in the BCI case. His nephew Sabbir Ahmed Shoeb was hopeful that his uncle would get bail from the HC within a month.
“We knew beforehand what could be the verdict. So we are ready to get him out of jail in a month,” he added.
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