Approve the treatment of Covid-19 using Holy Ganga water : PIL in Allahabad HC

Court notice to the Government’s Ethics Committee and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)

Prayagraj (UP) – A senior advocate of Allahabad High Court, Arun Kumar Gupta, has claimed about the potential treatment of Covid-19 using the Holy Gangajal (Ganga water) after an extensive research work. He has filed a petition in the Allahabad High Court in this regard and the Court has accepted it. The petition seeks the approval to use the Holy Gangajal for the treatment of Covid-19. During the hearing of the PIL, the Court issued a notice to the Ethics Committee of the Central Government and ICMR, and asked them to respond within 6 weeks. In the petition, it was stated that a nasal spray of Holy Gangajal would kill any viruses present in the respiratory tract.

1. After doing research work, the petitioner prepared a scientific paper titled, “Treatment of Covid-19 by Ganga Jal” and sent the same through e-mail to the President of India on 26^th April, 2020 and National Mission for Clean Ganga. The petition also demanded a research regarding the medicinal properties of Holy Gangajal. The research work was also sent to ICMR, which was rejected on the grounds that there was no science in it. After the research was rejected, a team of 5 senior doctors from BHU was constituted to conduct the further research. The research report was published in the September 2020 issue of the International Journal.

2. Adv Arun Gupta said, ‘Covid infection can be treated in 2 ways using ‘bacteriophages’ found in Gangajal’. Coronavirus attacks the nose. Holy Gangajal was brought from the distance of twenty kilometres beyond Gangotri. A nasal spray containing Holy Gangajal was used on 600 people. People who received the nasal spray, tested negative for Covid, while those who did not receive the spray, tested positive.

3. Adv Arun Kumar Gupta said, ‘This is our belief since thousands of years that Holy Gangajal never becomes contaminated. It never produces viruses. 1,300 types of bacteriophages have been found in the Holy river Ganga. Now, new research has shown that Holy Gangajal is effective in treating Covid infections. Why is ICMR rejecting the proposal when the nasal spray would just cost Rs. 30 ? The Central Government should do its own research on it.

4. Adv Gupta said, ‘ICMR rejected the research citing the absence of clinical data. Thereafter, the Government did not take any initiative even after the research conducted by the team of doctors from BHU. Hence, I had to go to court’.

5. Adv Gupta further said, ‘When the matter went to the Government’s Ethics Committee, it said that Holy Gangajal was unethical. I wonder why it is unethical. Ganga water has had medicinal properties since ages, which has an ability to kill the viruses. Why the research is being rejected ?’

The research was done in 1896

Dr. Vijay Nath Mishra, professor in the Department of Neurology, BHU told about how Ernest Hackins, a British bacteriologist, found the presence of bacteriophages in the Holy river Ganga in 1896. It was found that people who drink water from the Holy river Ganga did not get infected from cholera. No one paid much attention to this research for a long time. It was discovered in 1980 that all rivers contain bacteriophages. There are 1,300 types of bacteriophages found in the Holy river Ganga. Prof. Gopal had treated patients with the help of bacteriophages at Banaras Hindu University from 1980 to 1990.

Research by Adv Arun Kumar Gupta

Adv Arun Kumar Gupta surveyed 491 people living on the banks of the Holy river Ganga, of which, 274 people bathed daily in the river and drank its water. They were not infected with Covid. On the other hand, the remaining 217 people did not use the Holy river’s water, 20 of them were infected with Covid and 2 succumbed to it.