Belamundi, Uttar Pradesh: An HIV positive child and his siblings were denied admission in a school in Belamundi village of Allahabad district in Uttar Pradesh.
The school's principal says he was forced by parents of other children studying in that school to dismiss the HIV positive kids.
"Villagers were very much afraid of the HIV positive child and his siblings studying in the school. They were worried that their children too will get affected. So they built pressure on us and asked us to dismiss them from school," said Raghvendra Nath Tripathi.
The plight of the three children does not end here. Their parents died of AIDS a few years ago and now they are staying with their uncle Dharam Narayan Panda, who has little means to raise them.
Panda said, "They (school authorities) sent away all three children from school and disallowed their entry inside the school. Children are now staying at home. We are afraid if we try to send them again, they might get furious and fight."
This incident proves the hollowness of the tall claims made by the state and the central government that run AIDS campaigns.