Cough Syrup Deaths: Petitioner told to file amended plea

Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik of the Lahore High Court on Friday directed a petitioner to file an amended plea seeking a judicial inquiry into 16 deaths allegedly due to a cough syrup and for the registration of cases against the manufacturers and authorities concerned.


Judicial Activism Panel Chairman Muhammad Azhar Siddique filed the petition saying there was a dire need for a judicial inquiry into the deaths.  He said that the officials whose job it was to prevent such incidents should be charged under Section 300 of the Pakistan Penal Code (Qatl-i-Amd) to set a precedent so that in future, government officials took their jobs more seriously. Siddique had earlier moved two separate applications, to the chief minister and the chief secretary, seeking a judicial inquiry into the deaths among users of the cough syrup. He said that he would move the LHC if the government failed to order such an inquiry.