Lata Rani, Correspondent
Patna: A Muslim couple afflicted with HIV have allegedly been driven out of their home by the husband’s parents in Bihar.
The couple’s three daughters were also thrown out of the home, along with their parents, although they are healthy and have not shown signs of the illness.
The incident took place at Gopalpur village under Mushari police station in Muzaffarpur district.
The couple have registered a written complaint with the police, seeking help.
According to the couple, the man’s parents drove them out of their house on Sunday, saying their life too would be in danger if they stayed with them in the same dwelling.
The parents refused to relent even after appeals by the couple.
“My father assaulted me and my wife when we refused to leave home,” the victim told the police on Sunday, seeking their invention.
Before that they had brought the matter to the notice of local village court but this didn’t help anymore.
The couple found out they had the virus some eight years ago, soon after their marriage.
“The police have got a written complaint from the couple and are trying to convince the rival side. Legal action will be taken if they refuse to give them entry into their home,” said a local police official Satyendra Kumar Manjhi who is in charge of the investigation.
People living with HIV and Aids are normally looked down upon by Indian society and, in some cases, ostracised owing to various misconceptions and low awareness about this disease.
The plight of people living with the virus has not changed much despite various awareness campaigns launched by the society and the NGOs, experts say.
Recently, a poor Hindu woman had to bury her husband all by herself.
After Ramchandra Rikiyasan died of Aids, fellow villagers turned down his widow’s appeal to join the funeral procession.
The incident took place at Nawa village under Deo block of Aurangabad district.
Local media reported how his widow Kalwati Devi somehow dragged her husband’s body just outside her home with her frail hands and then put it inside the grave which she dug with the help of her 10 year-old daughter Pramila Kumari.
The previous National Democratic Alliance government in Bihar had planned to provide jobs to people living with HIV and Aids, under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act to ensure they get financial security but the idea didn’t see the light of the day.
