COVID-19: Plaint against Puri in Bihar court alleging negligence in passenger screening at airports

A criminal complaint was filed against Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri in a court here on Saturday citing alleged negligence in screening of passengers at airports amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The complaint was filed by a social activist, Tamanna Hashmi, in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Mukesh Kumar.

The matter will come up for hearing on March 31.

According to news reports, neither the passengers at the airports are being examined properly nor the staff deployed for examining passengers are using masks or hand gloves, Hashmi said in his complaint.

Statements of passengers coming from foreign countries show negligence both on part of Puri and his ministry in tackling an infectious disease like coronavirus, the complaint stated.

The minister has "completely failed" in preventing the spread of coronavirus at the airports across the country due to his ministry's inability to have a proper examination of passengers, it alleged.

Hashmi filed the complaint under different sections of the Indian Penal Code, including that for causing death by negligence.