Mumbai:
Maharashtra may become the first state in the country to make HIV test mandatory before marriage.
A committee headed by the State Health Minister Vimal Mundada has already given an in principal nod to the proposal.
The decision comes after the Maharashtra Law Graduate Association filed a PIL in the High Court asking for such a test.
The High Court had directed the matter to the state government, which decided to form a committee to look in to the matter.
The solution, simplistic at best, was opposed once before when a public interest litigation was turned down by the Bombay High Court in April 2006.
It was a decision based on guidelines laid down by the National AIDS Control Organisation, guidelines, which state that no one should be forced to undergo a mandatory HIV test.
The guidelines also state that mandatory HIV test should not be a precondition for employment or providing healthcare and in case of marriage, a test can be carried out only if a partner insists on it.
But the debate rages on. Should the state protect one group's right to privacy or another group's right to life?