Jharkhand HC questions govt, ask to tell actual number of ‘hunger deaths’

The Jharkhand government has been asked to define “hunger death” and to tell the “actual number of hunger deaths” in the state by the Jharkhand High Court.

Earlier in 2020 three people died in one family within six months in Bokaro on which HC passed the order on November 4.

“We have seen the action taken report. However, two things are not clear. First is the mechanism of fixing the target and the second is whether hunger death has been defined by the state under any statute or any circular or whatever if not, then how the statements are coming that there is no hunger death or what is the number of actual hunger deaths? We expect that such an affidavit will be filed in two weeks,” the HC order said.

Meanwhile, Ranchi-based lawyer Sonal Tiwary filed the Intervenor Application in this PIL in which she told about 34 such deaths cases.

“There were around 34 hunger deaths in the state of Jharkhand in the last 4-5 years. I have closely seen how the government failed to implement welfare schemes in rural areas. There are still cases where poor and marginalized are not getting ration, pensions for last 6-7 months,” Sonal Tiwary said.

Before Jharkhand High Court Tiwary filed an intervener application and said, “Thus, in one of the cases, I filed an intervener application before the Jharkhand High Court in which I made a submission that whenever there are cases of hunger death, Government denies allegations saying that these deaths are because of malaria or health-related problems. I argued that it was very important for the state to define what constitutes Hunger death/Starvation. This order was recently passed by Jharkhand HC.”

However, after the Jharkhand HC order, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attacked the ruling government led by chief minister Hemant Soren for hiding the truth.

BJP spokesperson Pratul Shahdeo lashed CM Soren and said, “We welcome the High Court’s decision. It is painful that death due to hunger happens even in the 21st century. The concerned officers should be punished and action against them must be taken. Be it any government, such unfortunate deaths must not take place. When Hemant Soren was in opposition he was very vocal about these things. He even blamed our government, but now when he has assumed the chair of the chief minister, he is tight-lipped and his officers are hiding the fact.”