"Define hunger death," Jharkhand High Court to govt

Ranchi (Jharkhand) [India], November 14 : Jharkhand High Court has directed the state government to define "hunger death" and to tell the "actual number of hunger deaths" in the state.
The HC passed the order on November 4 following a suo motu cognizance of three deaths in one family within six months in Bokaro in 2020.
"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 and 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.
Ranchi-based lawyer Sonal Tiwary, who filed an Intervenor Application in this PIL, said that he told the high court about 34 such death 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 marginalised are not getting ration, pensions for last 6-7 months," Said Sonal Tiwary
Tiwary further said that following one of the cases, he filed an intervener application before Jharkhand High Court
"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," he added.
After the Jharkhand HC passed its order, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) launched a scathing attack on the ruling government led by chief minister Hemant Soren and accused the CM of always trying to hide the fact.
"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," BJP spokesperson Pratul Shahdeo said.