PIL on Ganga water: HC issuesnotices to Central Govt, ICMR

Prayagraj: The Allahabad high court on Wednesday issued notices to the Central government and the director general, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking lab test on the action of ‘bacteriophages’ found in Ganga jal (water of river Ganga) which the petition claimed can treat Covid-19.
Ernest Hackins, a British bacteriologist, found the presence of bacteriophages in river Ganga in 1896. Later, studies found that bacteriophage's presence does not putrefy or deteriorate the water of the Ganga, but kills the pathogens and ‘bacterial infections’.
Hearing the PIL filed by Arun Kumar Gupta, a senior advocate of Allahabad High Court, a division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice Rajendra Kumar directed to list this case for hearing on expiry of six weeks.
According to the petitioner, he was studying curative properties of river Ganga for a long time and after the outbreak of Covid-19 last year, he started searching on the internet for the effect of water of river Ganga on Covid-19 patients.
After doing research work, the petitioner prepared a scientific paper titled, “Treatment of Covid-19 by Ganga Jal” and sent the same through e-mail to the President of India on April 26, 2020 and National Mission for Clean Ganga. The Mission forwarded it to Ayush ministry and the director general, ICMR, but his paper was not considered due to lack of scientific studies to validate the claim.
The petitioner was an advocate and clinical study and clinical data has to be done or collected by any recognised medical institute.
Thus, Gupta approached doctors of Indian Institute of Medical Sciences IMS, BHU, Varanasi and Dr Vijay Nath Mishra, professor in the department of neurology, BHU agreed for further scientific research and clinical study on the subject and the theory.
In the petition, it was stated that a nasal spray was also prepared for treatment of coronavirus but permission for its clinical trials is pending before the ethics committee, IMS, BHU since last seven months.
The petitioner has alleged that ICMR has acted arbitrarily by not conducting any study on the theory proposed by the petitioner and his team of doctors, which is violative of Article 14 (right to equality) and Article 21 (right to life) of the Constitution of India.
According to the petitioner, ICMR has been created by the Government of India for conducting and finding researches for treatment of diseases but ICMR has statutorily failed to discharge its duty by not conducting any research of the theory and hypothesis.
The court passed this order on June 30.