Thalassemic kids' case: court gives CBI 1 month to file report

A special court here today asked the CBI to submit within one month report of investigation of a case where 32 Thalassemic children were infected with HIV because of transfusion of contaminated blood at the Junagadh Civil Hospital in Gujarat.
On November 30 last year, the court had asked the central agency to reopen the case and submit a report in two months.
The CBI lawyer today asked for another two months to file the report, arguing that the agency could not track down all the 93 people who had supposedly donated HIV-infected blood.
The judge V K Nai, however, did not cede the request after the petitioners' lawyer argued that it was not difficult to trace the donors as hospital had their mobile numbers and other contact details.

Eight of the 32 affected children have died of AIDS since 2011.
The CBI's earlier closure report gave a clean chit to BJP leader and Junagadh MLA Mahendra Mashru whose blood bank was under the scanner for allegedly providing HIV-infected blood. The agency said it found no evidence.
The parents of the children then filed protest petition through their lawyer Paresh Vaghela, following which the court ordered further probe.
In 2011, 32 children suffering from Thalassemia (a blood disorder which requires regular blood transfusion) were allegedly given HIV-infected blood at Junagadh Hospital. In response to a PIL, the probe was handed over to CBI in 2013.