A PUBLIC interest litigation (PIL) has been filed before the Supreme Court seeking urgent judicial intervention to address the deaths of children allegedly caused by the consumption of contaminated cough syrup in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
At least 14 children have died since early September, with most of the cases reported from Nagpur in Maharashtra and Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh.
The PIL claimed that laboratory tests conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Government confirmed the presence of Diethylene Glycol (DEG) — a toxic industrial solvent prohibited for pharmaceutical use — in ‘Coldrif Cough Syrup’ manufactured by Tamil Nadu’s Sresan Pharma Pvt. Ltd. The initial cases were reported from Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara district in early September, and within days, the death toll mounted as similar cases emerged from Nagpur, Maharashtra.
“Despite the catastrophic findings, the Union Government and the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) allegedly failed to issue an immediate nationwide recall or ban, permitting the continued circulation of potentially poisonous medicines across States,” the plea stated.
It drew parallels with the Gambia and Uzbekistan incidents, where DEG-contaminated Indian syrups were linked to over 90 child deaths abroad.
“This is not a tragedy of chance but of negligence, apathy, and regulatory failure — an institutional rot that allows counterfeit and adulterated drugs to enter the public market unchecked,” the PIL stated.
