Maharashtra:
Women shunned after contracting the dreaded HIV virus, a disease passed on from their spouses' unsafe sex practices, are victims twice over.
Now a controversial solution has been proposed by the Maharashtra government.
This includes compulsory pre-marital HIV testing, a solution suggested by a state-appointed committee set up late last year.
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:
Now a controversial solution has been proposed by the Maharashtra government.
This includes compulsory pre-marital HIV testing, a solution suggested by a state-appointed committee set up late last year.
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:
- Nno one should be forced to undergo a mandatory HIV test
- An HIV test should not be a precondition for employment or to providing healthcare
- And in the case of marriage, a test can be carried out only if one partner insists on it.
