Illegal industrial units discharging poisonous substances is “worse than genocide or war crime”, the Delhi High Court said on Monday.
“This is a murderous attack on the life of people. They are suffering from cancer. It’s very unfortunate that no one is taking it seriously,” a Bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar said.
The observation came during the hearing of a PIL it had initiated on its own on a news report highlighting the release of carcinogenic by-products into the groundwater by illegal dyeing units at Shiv Vihar in north-east Delhi.
Death of 2 persons
The report had referred to the death of two persons on account of pollutants they had ingested from the water, polluted by non-conforming industries there.
Asking the CBI to place their status report in the matter by October 30, the Bench said “genocide is a war crime, but this is worse than that”.
“Because of callous disregard of the law, we have reached here. Young people are at the (advanced) stage of cancer. It is very unfortunate,” the Bench said and asked the advocate for the civic bodies: “what will happen to their families which have at least four members each ... it is a horrible state of affairs”. The CBI on Monday submitted that they have served a notice on the civic body and State government officials, but they have neither turned up, nor filed their replies.