Daily Finland
A court in Bangladesh capital Dhaka on Monday dismissed an application filed seeking to lodge a case against former interim government chief adviser Muhammad Yunus and four others on allegations of negligence of duty, fraud, and breach of trust concerning the ongoing measles outbreak resulting deaths of several hundreds of children, reported The Business Standard, a leading English language daily published from Dhaka. A lawmaker of the country Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Iqbal filed the petition with the court saying that although the former chief adviser is highly educated and a Nobel laureate, his "extreme negligence" of duty and intentional actions have led to the deaths of hundreds of children and endangered the lives of thousands of others. The petition alleged that the other accused including former health adviser Nurjahan Begum, while holding crucial positions in the health ministry during the tenure of the interim government, neglected their duties and purposefully failed to import the measles vaccine on time, committing a punishable and inhumane offence. It also noted that the act constituted fraud against citizens and violated their fundamental rights. The application stated that, like almost all countries in the world, Bangladesh regularly provides vaccines, including for measles-rubella, to protect children from various infectious diseases. Due to regular immunisation programmes over a long period, mortality rates from measles and rubella have dropped significantly worldwide, it added. The application said that since the beginning, Bangladesh had been importing various vaccines, including the measles-rubella vaccine, through UNICEF. However, after the interim government led by Yunus took office, the import of measles-rubella vaccines through UNICEF was halted, according to the application. Earlier UNICEF said it repeatedly warned Bangladesh's interim government about an impending measles vaccine shortage since 2024, sending multiple letters and holding at least 10 meetings with officials, but timely action was not taken. A UNICEF representative also stated that the health authorities of the interim government had been cautioned multiple times about a potential shortage of the vaccine. Official records show that around 610 children died from March 15 2026 to June 4, 2026. According to the petition, some 75,708 children were admitted to different hospitals across the country with measles infections during the period. Different organisations in Bangladesh held demonstrations demanding trial of former chief adviser Muhammad Yunus for the deaths of several hundreds of children from measles.
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