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Police arrest transsexuals, brawl ensues
BANGALORE: A drive against transsexuals on Monday landed the police in a soup at Banashankari. Activists working with transsexuals protested in front of Banashankari police station, demanding the release of six members who were arrested.
At 3.30 pm, the Girinagar police arrested six transsexuals who were collecting money near traffic signals and from shopkeepers. Trouble began at 4.30 pm, when activists went to the Banashankari ACPs office, urging him to release the arrested persons. When the police refused to release them, a heated argument ensued between the two groups, and the police arrested the activists also.
Times News Network -
PM asks Cabinet colleagues to sort out rift over gay laws
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has intervened in the intra-Cabinet war between home minister Mr Shivraj Patil and health minister Dr Ambumani Ramadoss over the question of legalising homosexuality, asking the two ministers to sit down and sort out the issue.
The issue figured at todays Cabinet meeting in the wake of Delhi High Court hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the legality of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which bans sexual relations among people of the same gender. While the home ministry wants the penal provision to continue, saying that it is in keeping with Indian tradition, the health ministry has argued for decriminalising homosexuality on the grounds that it impedes the battle against HIV/AIDS.
The court had yesterday pulled up the Centre for relying on religious texts to justify the prohibition on gay sex in the country and asked for scientific reports to justify it.
Statesman News Service -
Provide report on HIV in jails by Nov 10, HC tells state
MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday directed the Maharashtra State AIDS Control Society (MSACS) to submit a report on the prevalence of HIV in jails in the state, especially the ones at Amravati and Yerwada. A division bench of Justice F I Rebello and Justice Ashutosh Kumbhakoni gave MSACS time till November 10 to submit the report.
The report will comprise details of the number of prisoners who have tested positive for HIV, the figures of inmates who require HIV anti-retroviral treatment (ART) and those who are undergoing the ART treatment. MSACS has also been asked to list the infrastructure required at the jails for counselling, testing and giving treatment to prisoners as well as the time that would be needed to upgrade the facilities.
The issue first came to light when the high court was hearing a bail application filed by a HIV-positive prisoner serving a life sentence in Punes Yerwada jail. The court was informed that there were around 32 HIV positive convicts who had died in Yerwada jail between 2001 and 2006. Expressing concern at the statistics, the high court appointed advocates Anand Grover and Yug Choudhary as amicus cuirae (friends of the court) to assist the judges in dealing with the issue.
Shibu Thomas, for TNN -
Scourge of HIV/Aids hits adoptions
HYDERABAD: In what is certainly bad news, adoptions have reduced drastically in the city with 60 per cent of the abandoned children turning out to be human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive.
According to the records of the women and child welfare department, of the 125 children who were abandoned in the city and the surrounding districts of Ranga Reddy and Nalgonda, and who were potential candidates for adoption, 64 tested HIV-positive.
Children not adopted are sent to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and orphanages where medical care is given to them. However, not many are adopted as most families do not want HIV-positive children.
Due to the stigma related to HIV/Aids, the adoption rate of abandoned children has reduced from 40.3 per cent in 2007 to 36.7 per cent in 2008. "Most couples are not interested to adopt a child with a disease. In most cases, they want healthy babies to be taken into their family fold," an officer from the women and child welfare department told TOI. Children who have diseases are given to organisations which have good medical facilities.
Nikhila Henry, for TNN -
Adopted parents’ love for HIV baby
Raj Chavan was just one year old when his parents died. HIV positive and abandoned Raj found a new lease of life when a family from a neighbouring village in Sindhudurg in southern Maharashtra adopted him.
The Chavans had no relation to Raj's biological parents and this decision charged them socially and financially, as they had to bring him to Mumbai regularly for treatment.
"People run away when they hear AIDS and HIV. Family was with me but others you can guess," said Ramesh Chavan, Peon and Raj's father.
"We live on rent. As soon as the landlords come to know of this they ask us to leave," said Reshma Chavan, Raj's mother.
The Chavans already have two daughters, one of whom is handicapped. Bringing Raj home was a collective decision after the family saw him bleeding in a corner of his parents home in the neighbouring village. Now, he is a bundle of energy .
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“The tearful tale of an aravaani” (poem by D. Dinesh Kumar)
Poem reprinted with kind permission from the author, D. Dinesh Kumar, who originally posted it to the AIDS-INDIA@yahoogroups.com mailing list.
"The tearful tale of an aravaani"
This is the story of an aravaani
woman trapped in a man's body
as a man I was destined to rule this world
as a woman I desired to rule this world
yet here I am: this despicable maiden
all forlorn
with an epic so dark and tragic
that it would move a stone to tears.
Along the seashore
adorned in colorful hues
she roamed about, destitute,
with folded hands that clapped,
she begged with dignity
Many were those who
lashed at her with their tongues
leaving her to cry
heaping slurs on her:
broken hearted, she turned to silence
she became a sieve among souls
I asked the broken hearted maiden
And out she poured her story.
what then is the tragic tale of this aravaani?
well, let us listen to it.
the one who bore me in her womb scorned me
the one who sowed his seed made me weep
the ones born before me refused to see my face
the one born after me ran away in fear and scorn
I became blind, despite eyes to see
among my own I became a refugee
within my family I became an orphan
with food I got my daily dose of
earful of hurtful words
the elder one was like a thorn
the younger one was like a spear
Kill me with a knife and I'd gladly die
once, and with dignity
amidst these ignorant people
I died, without dying
not once but many times.
Then my tragic tale became a hurdle
for my fair sister's wedding
my mother who nourished me
with her own blood
was ready with poison.
I decided that a chicken
should not die
in the hands of the hen that gave it life.
and I left..
to live among my own kind
I found my kindred folks
sister, mother they said
and nourished me with love
I surrendered my manhood
transformed into a woman
and glowed in pride
my life was complete at last.
passions shook me from head to toe
yes, I had my distractions
but was determined to live my life
like a lotus that stood tall in shallow water
slowly the will disappeared
blinded by desire
men flocked to my feet
I milked those who
came to eat my flesh
there was money in my hands too.
and then there was one who came as a customer
while I could not carry his child
I thought i would call him mine.
Trickery in the guise of marriage
treachery in the guise of love
he robbed me of my money
and abandoned me on the streets.
generously I gave to everyone
like a bountiful vessel
but was given a begging bowl instead
Who did this?
Who ? who? who?
--------------------------------
D. Dinesh Kumar,
Erode,
Tamilnadu.
e-mail: <ethics.justice@gmail.com> -
Study adds 50 years to HIV history
New Delhi, Oct. 2: A lymph-node tissue biopsy from 1960 suggests that HIV began spreading among humans in the 19th century, perhaps 100 years before AIDS was recognised in the early 1980s.
An international research team recovered fragments of HIV genes from a lymph-node tissue collected from a woman in Kinshasa, Congo, 48 years ago and compared it with genes from the oldest HIV sample known from 1959 - also from Kinshasa.
The scientists found that the two virus samples - from 1959 and 1960 - were genetically so different that any common ancestor would have had to be several decades older, that is, it would have existed around 1900.
However, the researchers also found that the 1900 virus itself would have been genetically different from the original virus that spread from chimpanzees to humans - and that it would have taken several years for this genetic divergence to take place.
G.S.Mudur, for The Telegraph -
Doctors shall face action for shunning AIDS patients: SC
New Delhi, Oct 1 Doctors who refuse to treat AIDS or HIV patients will have to face the music as the Centre today told the Supreme Court that it has decided to take firm action against them.
The Centre said it has circulated directions to states for taking action against doctors and para-medical staff, in both government and private sector, for shunning AIDS or HIV patients.
The Government's submission in the apex court comes in the backdrop of complaints highlighting the plight of patients who were denied treatment by doctors or para-medical staff both in private and government hospitals.
"It must be ensured that there is no discrimination or stigma to PLHA's (persons living with HIV or AIDS) at health care facilities otherwise. The cases of denial of services to positive patients should be viewed seriously and action initiated in all such cases," the Centre's office memorandum circulated among states and submitted in the apex court today said.
chennaionline.com -
Union of India defends Section 377 – 2
A division bench of Chief Justice A.P Shah and Justice Murlidharan of the Delhi High Court continued to hear arguments in the matter of Naz Foundation (India) Trust v. Government of NCT, Delhi and Others, Writ Petition (Civil) No. 7455 of 2001, which challenges the constitutional validity of Section 377, Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC).
On 30th September 2008, the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) - PP Malhotra, sought to counter the petitioner's claim that Section 377 infringes the right to life and liberty under Article 21.
Relying on Kharak Singh, Gobind v State of Madhya Pradesh and A.K Gopalan, the ASG attempted to argue that the petitioner's challenge under Article 21 is not sustainable as Section 377 is a valid law.{According to these decisions, restrictions on Article 21 cannot be challenged if imposed by a validly enacted law.} Rejecting the submission, the Bench said that this principle has been overruled by Maneka Gandhi[4] and subsequent pronouncements of the Supreme Court. Drawing the ASG's attention to a settled position in constitutional law, the Chief Justice said that the impugned law itself must be fair, just and reasonable to withstand the rigours of Article 21.
Second, the ASG argued that the right to privacy is not absolute and can be curtailed in favour of a competing interest. He cited HIV related judgments - Lucy D'Souza[5], Singareni Collairies[6] and Mr X v Hospital Z[7] to press that fundamental rights of people living with HIV can be abridged to protect others. The Chief Justice pointed out that this line of thinking is outmoded; though Courts have permitted mandatory HIV testing, the Indian Government has rejected such measures. Justice Murlidharan further questioned the relevance of these decisions to the present matter which challenges criminal sanctions against consenting adults.
Tripti Tandon, for Lawyers Collective
© 2008 Wake Up Pune.
Articles are copyright of their respective authors.
'Paragrams' by WPSHOWER
