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The Rediff Special/Syed Firdaus Ashraf

AIDS and marriage: A double ostracism

Nilesh Rajan, a young computer professional, was engaged to Savita Deshpande. Their families were elatedly awaiting the day when the couple would finally tie the nuptial knot. But Nilesh was all along enduring a private hell, tormented whether he should go ahead with the marriage.

Prior to his engagement, he had the habit of visiting brothels. And he was concerned that he might be HIV-positive. So he went for a medical check up and the tests confirmed his suspicion.

The doctors told him to opt out of the engagement since he would be endangering the life of his future wife. He promptly followed their advice.

However, having voluntarily annulled his marriage, Rajan, never one to submit to a reclusive life, was soon back to his old ways. He became a regular visitor to brothels. He knew he wouldn't survive much longer and became careless about safe sex. So much so that he abandoned even routine precautionary measures when visiting commercial sex workers.

The moot question is whether people like Rajan should be allowed to marry or, which is worse, be allowed to roam freely as dangerous carriers of the AIDS virus?

The Supreme Court is not in two minds about this: people like Rajan do not have the right to marry since they risk the lives of their spouses.

On September 21,1998, Justices S Saghir Ahmed and B N Kirpal gave a judgement to this end. Since then there has been a lot of debate in the country as to the fairness of this decision.

The judgement came after a Manipuri doctor filed a suit against a Madras hospital and a Manipur minister after they disclosed his status of being HIV-positive to his fiancee and his employers.

The doctor quit his job and called off his marriage. He then filed a suit in the Supreme Court pleading that he be compensated for the damage done to him. He had argued in his case that he had a right to privacy and the hospital authorities and the minister had no right to violate it.

But the Supreme Court apparently believed that the right to privacy had to be relegated where it threatened the very right to life -- which would be the case were a person to hide his/her status as HIV-positive and go ahead and marry.

Bombay high court lawyer Anand Grover feels that people like Rajan must have the right to marry if they inform their prospective spouse about their HIV-positive status. "The right to marry is recognised internationally as a fundamental human right. It is mentioned in Article 23 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, in Article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in Article 12 of the European Convention of Human Rights," reveals Grover.

According to him, the laws regarding matrimony in our country do not prohibit marriage in the case of communicable venereal diseases. "The Supreme Court has no jurisdiction to suspend or abridge a fundamental right of the entire HIV-positive community," he fumes.

The first case of Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome in India was reported in 1986 in Madras. Since then there has been an exponential increase in the number of HIV positive cases. According to the National Aids Control Organisation there are nearly four million HIV-positive cases in our country. The People's Health Organisation, formerly known as the Indian Health Organisation, puts the figure at seven million patients. In fact, the HIV-positive cases are doubling in India every year, which is simply catastrophic.

Says Dr Arshad Ghulam Mohammad, President of the Indian Medical Association, Bombay (West Branch), "In Africa, the HIV-positive patients are doubling in three years; in the United States and Europe they are doubling in seven years. But it is unfortunate that in our country they are doubling in a year's time. And there are estimates that by next year there will be nearly 14 million HIV-positive patients in India."

The reasons for this are not difficult to fathom --- India has a high rate of reproduction, poor hygiene, widespread illiteracy and is woefully lacking in terms of nutrition for the common populace. In fact, recently, there have been reports that the AIDS virus is fast spreading among the housewives of migrant working class families!

Says Dr Kamakshi Bhate, Associate Professor of Preventive and Social Medicine at KEM Hospital in Bombay, who counsels patients with sexually transmitted diseases, "Nearly 98 per cent of the cases I used to handle were men who used to be HIV-positive, the rest being commercial sex workers. And, it is unfortunate that these men never used to bring their wives for counselling or testing to the clinics. Their standard answer used to be 'what will my wife do after my death. If I die there is no point for her to live.' "

Flavia Agnes, the Bombay High Court lawyer who had opposed the petition of HIV-positive persons' right to marry, rages, "In our country, if women are dark or a widow or divorcee they do not have any chance to get remarried. Why then do HIV-positive men want the right to get married? I want to know how many men are ready to marry a woman who is affected by AIDS?''

Agnes recounts some horrifying experiences: Gayatri Naik married a HIV-positive man. He transmitted his disease to her. Their infant son too got infected. After his death, Gayatri's in-laws threw both her and the child out of their house. Her own parents too refused to take her back. Finally, she immolated her son and herself.

However, Dr I S Gilada, the general secretary of the People's Health Organisation (India) says, "I feel there is no harm if a marriage takes place between two HIV-positive persons (concordant couples). And, they can have children also as there is only 33 per cent risk for that child to be HIV-positive. Moreover, if they want to live together, they can continue till their willpower allows them."

He adds, "If these couples continue to take medicines regularly along with other precautions they can surely live longer."

So far the longest a child born infected with the virus has lived is 17 years. In India it is 11 years. And in our country most of the children with the virus actually succumb to secondary diseases like tuberculosis, PCP pneumonia, special diarrhoea or fungal infections.

The saddest part is that the central government has so far not thought out these issues. It has no policy regarding marriage laws for HIV-positive people.

Says Dr Gilada, "The AIDS programme in our country is very weak and there is no legislation on such issues. It is unfortunate that the Supreme Court has to be approached in such matters."

Meanwhile, one more HIV-positive person has approached the court, stating that his would-be spouse knows about his condition and still wants to marry him. The case is yet to come up for hearing. Another petition was filed in the Bombay high court by Anand Grover who argued that if both man and woman are HIV-positive then there is no harm in their getting married. However, the Bombay high court has passed the petition on to the Supreme Court for a decision.

Till then the family life of HIV-positive people hangs in the balance.

The names of the HIV-positive patients in this report have been changed in order to protect their identity.

The Rediff Specials

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