New Delhi, December 3
The wife of a person living with HIV AIDS (PLHWA) has knocked the door of the National Commission for Women to defend her choice of terminating conjugal relations. This is the first time that the Commission has received such a case.
The woman, who has two children, petitioned the Commission recently after her trucker husband insisted on having unprotected sex with her. The complainant also annexed photo-copies of medical tests confirming that her husband is living with HIV AIDS.
Inhabitants of a village in North-West Delhi, the woman and her severely physically challenged brother-in-law have complained that the accused has from time to time threatened that he will infect them with HIV by biting them. It is a different story that HIV does not spread by biting.
The NCW referred the matter to the Station House Officer of the police station concerned and the accused was arrested on charges of breaching peace. But the matter did not end here. The accused continued to convey threats to the family compelling them to approach the Commission once again to voice their apprehensions.
The Commission stepped in again and sent a letter to the Deputy Commissioner of Police of the district concerned. The letter states that in view of the facts and circumstances, it is necessary to ensure that the accused be released on bail after furnishing at least two sureties from villagers belonging to the complainant’s village, vouching for his proper conduct after his release on bail.
The Commission has further said that the police will have to ensure safety and security of the complainant and other family members and provide protection against the accused once he is released on bail.
Gurpreet Deo, Deputy Secretary in the Commission, told TNS that the Commission has desired that the police apprise them of the action taken in the matter within 10 days. “Keeping in view the principles of natural justice, we have asked our counsellor to meet the
accused and understand his side of the story. Since there are chances that the person may feel isolated, we are inclined to look into his
rehabilitation and integration into the house in a peaceful manner.” Deo said that the law needs to be reviewed in context of such cases where a person having a venereal communicable disease insists on sexual intercourse with his wife. Kamini Jaiswal, a Supreme Court lawyer and a human rights activist, says: “The law is quite archaic and has not so far taken note of the fact that 5.1 million Indians are living with HIV AIDS, 40 per cent of whom are women. There is definitely an amendment required. The law needs to change with the changing times. Incurable Veneral Disease has always been recognised as a ground for separation. Therefore a woman would be well within her rights in refusing to have sex with a husband living with HIV AIDS because not only the contrary would be a violation of her fundamental rights to life which includes right to live with human dignity. While refusing to do so, she would be entitled to claim
maintenance for herself and her children.”
Kamini Jaiswal says the woman should be given adequate protection. “The NCW should ensure that the man be restrained from entering his own premises if he behaves like a beast and insists on endangering the life of his wife. Merely obtaining a surety from the villagers will not help,” she said.
