Medical staff members carry a patient into the Jinyintan hospital in Wuhan, China. File/AFP

The London-based International Council of Jurists and All India Bar Association have filed a complaint against China in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for committing grave offences against humanity by unleashing COVID-19 on the world.

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The council is an international body of senior legal practitioners, headed by Adish C. Aggarwala, who also happens to be the chairman of the All Indian Bar Association.

The petition filed against People's Republic of China, the People's Liberation Army and the Wuhan Institute of Virology, alleged that the novel coronavirus pandemic was a "conspiracy" "aimed at catapulting itself to the position of a superpower of the world and undermining other countries through biological warfare."

Medical staff members wear protective suits at the Zhongnan hospital in Wuhan, China. File/AFP

The council has appealed to the UNHRC to probe into the conspiracy and impose reparations on China for having caused "serious physical, psychological, economic and social harm" to member nations of the UN.

China must be asked to adequately compensate the international community and member-states, particularly India, for surreptitiously developing a biological weapon capable of mass destruction of mankind throughout world, the petition said.

The jurists said that China has violated the universal declaration of human rights, international covenant on economic, social and cultural rights and international health regulations by hiding information regarding the contagion and by not issuing prompt health warnings regarding the potential outbreak of the coronavirus.

The global body of legal practitioners said China was legally liable under the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, 2001. The petition was filed by Aggarwala.

Indo-Asian News Service