An update on AIDS death in Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh

[Guest guest]

Dear All

The first reaction from the officials to our complaint was one of threat and

menace. Personally I (sreeram) experienced the loutish behavior of a senior

police officer whose strutting on the field (in the name of " enquiry " ) was

deplorable and despicable. He threatened our workers with arrest and confinement

and attempted to cow me down and make it out as though our organization was

trying to bring a bad name to Kuppam and the BC colony by cooking up this

ghastly story. I was (at that time) pretty much convinced that the truth will

never see the light of day. With such response from responsible officials, I was

also afraid that WINS as an organization, and I, as an individual will have to

face harassment and perhaps violence.

But I was vastly relieved when the Honourable Chairperson of The National

Commission for Women has suo moto decided to personally visit Kuppam. After

seeing her in action, my relief was something complete, I should say. Here was a

brilliant lady asking all the right questions. Her questions brought out so many

contradictions in the official version that I felt something would surely come

out of it. We are very happy to say that we have such an efficient and above all

such a conscientious and sincere lady heading the commission. We are sure she

may at least succeed in proving that there is attempt at some level to deny the

whole event.

On Sunday the 14th July, 2003 WINS along with a group of NGO's consisting of

NGOs from CHANnCE Network and CORE, met Ms. Poornima Advani, Chairperson

National Commission for Women (NCW) and submitted a memorandum on the stoning to

death of an AIDS widow in Kuppam. The memorandum raised a few doubts in the

circumstances surrounding the death and cremation of Pounamma, the AIDS widow.

Some of the doubts raised included

1) Why was the second husband who was in touch with the family and supporting

by sending money, not informed of her death?

2) Why was the cremation done in a hurry by the mother, brother and neighbors,

without even waiting for the son to have a last glimpse of the deceased Pounamma

or perform the last rites?

3) The deceased belongs to the BC community. So why was the body cremated in the

SC burial ground when there is a separate BC burial ground?

The NGOs requested the Chairperson to enquire into these matters and uncover the

actual circumstances leading to her death.

The chairperson recorded the depositions of the NGOs. She then met

representatives of the BC colony who had gathered before the commission and

obtained their depositions. During this process, she found that none of the

colony members could recognize any of the government health officials, including

officials of the District Nodal Office for AIDS control.

Her probing questions to the district AIDS officials did not elicit satisfactory

responses. The residents of the colony could neither recognize a single

official. She was highly critical of the awareness efforts and even commented on

the Nodal Officer that visiting villages does not mean relaxing in government

guest houses. She said this showed clearly how AIDS prevention and care work had

not yet reached the region, and hence how fear can be a motivating factor for

people to behave in such an extreme manner.

We were very happy and relieved to see that the Chairperson was very careful and

methodical in her questions to the officials. Neither were the colony residents

and the special officer spared. She brought out many so many contradictions and

inconsistencies in the depositions of many persons. It was clear that witnesses

were tutored. Satisfied by now that there was a move to suppress information

relating to the incident, she visited the BC colony where the incident was

reported to have taken place.

She visited Pounamma's residence, and the hut into which she was shifted by the

family members. She questioned the neighbors and discovered that they were all

afraid. When she questioned why a mango tree under which Pounamma used to rest

during her terminal stages of illness was cut down immediately after her death,

she was informed that the Govt. had sanctioned money for building a toilet, and

the tree was cut down to provide a place for building the latrine. She asked

them when a person in most in need of a toilet. When she was sick or after she

died?

She then visited the burial ground where Pounamma was cremated. She found no

watchman there, and it resembled a town garbage dump rather than a burial

ground. She questioned why there was no watchman, and what would happen if

someone was brought in and cremated? Who would know if a person were even

cremated alive? She questioned the police about it, and the DSP said that if

there was any attempt to cremate a person under suspicious circumstances,

someone in the neighborhood would inform the police, and it would be probed.

She then asked the brother of the deceased to show where she was cremated. She

asked him where the ashes and bones were. He mumbled something but the answer

failed to satisfy her. She then demanded that the four persons purported to have

helped transport the body to the burial ground be produced before the commission

for questioning.

She also held a hearing from the Journalists and a cross-section of people

deposing before her. We were not present during this. Not satisfied that she has

got to the root of the issue, she postponed her departure to New Delhi by one

more day, hoping she would be able to establish the facts.

Whether justice will ever be rendered to the hapless woman, at least we had the

satisfaction that the chairperson was clearly able to see through the official

overdrive to denynthe incident and discredit the complainants

We will keep you posted on this issue as and when we get to know more. .

In solidarity

Meera, Sreeram

E-mail: <rmeera102@...>