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A plea has been filed in the Bombay High Court by the father of a deceased medical student, who has sought ₹1,000 crores as compensation for the death of his daughter, who allegedly died due to the side effects of the Covid vaccine (Covishield).

The plea has been filed by one Aurangabad resident Dilip Lunawat before the principal bench of the High Court last week through Advocates Abhishek Mishra and Deepika Jaiswal.

Along with the State and Central government, the petitioner has added the Serum Institute of India (SII) through its CEO Adar Poonawalla, Bill Gates (partner in SII), the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) as respondents in the plea.

The plea sought for the following reliefs:

1. To hold that Lunawat's daughter was given vaccine under deception and false narratives by State authorities;
2. To hold that respondent state authorities have callous criminal attitude as till date they have not changed their FAQs and have continued with their narrative that they have treatment for vaccine side effects;
3. Directions to State authorities to pay interim compensation of ₹1000 crores which they can recover from SII Pune; and
4. Directions to Union to take appropriate action against social media companies like Google, YouTube, Meta, etc. who are involved in conspiracy of suppressing correct data about deaths caused due to vaccine side effects.

As per Lunawat’s plea, his daughter Snehal, a doctor and senior lecturer at the SMBT Dental College & Hospital in Nashik, was administered both doses of the vaccine as part of the state government’s initiative to vaccinate all healthcare workers.

The plea stated that Snehal was assured that the vaccine was completely safe and posed no risk or threat to the body. “She was, therefore, compelled to take the vaccine at the college since she was a health worker,” the plea read.

The plea further stated that health workers like his daughter were compelled to take vaccine due to the “false narratives created by Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), the Director of All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), the Maharashtra government, and the Union government that vaccines are safe”.

According to the plea, Snehal took the vaccine on January 28, 2021, and due to the side effects of the vaccine, she died on March 1, 2021.

Lunawat has averred in the plea that the Union government's AEFI (Adverse Event Following Immunization) committee on October 2, 2021, admitted that the death of his daughter was due to the side effects of Covishield vaccine.

“This petition is being filed to give justice to my daughter and in order to save the life of many more people who are likely to be murdered due to such unlawful activities of Respondent authorities,” mentioned the plea.