New Delhi: The Bombay high court on Wednesday (November 12) slammed the Union and Maharashtra government for what it termed as an “extremely casual” approach when it comes to dealing with the issue of issue among infants in the tribal regions of the state.

While hearing a string of petitions filed over the infant deaths due to malnourishment in Amravati district’s Melghat region, a bench comprising Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Sandesh Patil termed the situation as “horrific” and said that “the government should be concerned”, reported The Hindu.

Melghat has a large tribal population and chronic malnutrition has existed for in the area for years.

It was brought to the notice of the court during hearing that from June 2025 to date, 65 infants aged between zero and six months had died owing to malnutrition in Melghat.

The court observed that, despite several orders since 2001, the problem persists like a plague because of lack of implementation of these directives.

The state government in its submission to the court claimed that the cause of the deaths was pneumonia and not malnutrition.

“Whether the 2001 court order to construct a multi-speciality hospital in the area was actually implemented?” asked the court in response. No answer was received.

Thereafter, the court rebuked the state, “This shows your seriousness on the issue. The approach is extremely casual, and many things need answers from you.”

“Everything looks good on paper, but far from reality,” the court added while commenting the documents showed by the state.

The high court also ordered principal secretaries of the public health, tribal affairs, women and child development, and finance departments to submit affidavits about the measures taken in detail. They were asked to appear in court on November 24.

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