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What is the statute of limitations for holding a government accountable for deaths that it had been in a position to prevent?

Once the fog of war lifts and the media is done with tales of machismo, lessons taught, and jets downed, this question will need to be asked. 

This is something that people associated with the government at that time now admit in private with candour and the benefit of hindsight. Delays had happened in vaccine procurement and the government had been blindsided by the delta wave. It was caught napping in its obligation to prepare the health infrastructure when it had had a year to do so. But the official death data from 2021, that show that the year saw approximately 20 lakh more deaths than in 2020, opens up another more urgent need for introspection. 

What is the link between COVID-19 sequelae and sudden death? A 2023 study by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had concluded there is no link between the vaccine and sudden death but given ICMR’s complicity in keeping the real COVID-19 toll numbers under wraps, there may be a need for a more credible, preferably non-government-funded examination into this crucial question. 

Day in and day out during the pandemic, including the devastating days of the delta wave when those of us covering the pandemic for various publications were inundated with requests for beds, oxygen cylinders and, finally, help in expediting last rites, government officials including ICMR scientists diligently told us all was well and India’s death rates were far lower than international numbers by what can only be termed statistical jugglery. Testing numbers were given in absolutes and cases and deaths as population........

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