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Published : 08 Jun 2026, 12:21 PM
A court has dismissed a petition to file a case of “negligence” against five people, including Muhammad Yunus, the former chief advisor to the interim government, and his health advisor Nurjahan Begum, for the deaths of children due to measles.
Kishoreganj-5 MP Mujibur Rahman Iqbal had filed the application in the court of Dhaka's Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Jashita Islam on Monday.
After hearing the plaintiff's petition, the judge dismissed it citing “lack of evidence to accept the case”, said the plaintiff's lawyer Salahuddin Laskar.
In addition to Yunus and Nur Jahan, former secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Md Saidur Rahman, former special assistant to the chief advisor Md Sayedur Rahman and former director general of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Prof Dr Md Abu Jafor had been requested to be named as suspects in the case.
The petition stated that in Bangladesh, measles and rubella vaccines are routinely and compulsorily administered to prevent infectious diseases after birth.
Bangladesh has been importing these vaccines, alongside those for various other infectious diseases, from UNICEF, the UN children’s agency, since the beginning.
The interim government led by Yunus halted the import of these measles/rubella vaccines. It was later decided that these vaccines would be imported through purchases in an open tender process.
This, however, led to a lengthy delay of one and a half years, resulting in a severe shortage of vaccines in the country, the petition said.
The plaintiff alleged, “The lives of young children are at risk due to not getting the measles vaccine, which is nothing more than a scam and an extreme fraudulence of the people of Bangladesh.
“The defendants put the lives of millions of children at risk by stopping the import of measles/rubella vaccines.”
The petition said UNICEF Representative to Bangladesh Rana Flowers (who is named as Witness No. 2 in the case) told the media on May 20 that the Health Services Division of the then interim government had been warned about the potential shortage of measles-rubella vaccines through five to six letters sent from the agency to the offices of suspects No. 1-5.
A request was also made for the suspects not to halt the import process and to maintain the current supply system, it said.
“But the suspects did not heed their warning. Instead, by abusing their power, they showed extreme negligence. Due to the lack of vaccinations, the measles outbreak in the country took the form of an epidemic.”
According to official figures, since Mar 15, about 80,000 children have gone to various hospitals in the country for the treatment of measles or related symptoms. During this period, more than 600 children have died.
The petition for the case said, “Due to the extreme negligence of the defendants’ duties, malicious intent and corrupt attitude, the measles outbreak and epidemic occurred due to the non-vaccination of children. The defendants are directly and indirectly guilty in this incident. They have cheated the nation and broken its trust.”
Plaintiff Mujibur says he went to file the case at Dhaka’s Banani Police Station, but since the suspects were “very influential people”, the authorities did not accept it and advised him to go to court.
The petition had sought arrest warrants against the defendants after taking cognisance of the allegations.
