Women drag husbands to court for infecting them

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HIV + spouses face jail for causing 'hurt'

Times of India, New Delhi; Thursday, November 10, 2005.

By Ketan Tanna/TNN

For long, Indian housewives have silently suffered transmission of HIV from

their erring husbands. They are now fighting back. Through sections of the

Indian Penal Code that clearly defines the transmission of a disease as a method

of causing hurt; they are seeking justice, jail sentences for their husband and

compensation. On the Flip side, there are cases of innocent men who are taking

their philandering wives to court.

Thirty-four-year-old Savita Ambetkar had been married for well over eight Year.

A teacher in a small municipal school of Mumbai, her husband Sunil Ambekar

worked as an upper division clerk in a government concern.

Savita thought she had a happy marriage with a daughter and an evidently doting

husband. She did have her fights with Sunil when at times he would stay out at

nights or say he had urgent work on holidays. But as always, he had an

explanation.

A persistent cough and skin rashes which refused to go away took her to a

Government hospital where she was diagnosed as HIV-positive, seven years after

marriage. When Savita, who had never had any physical contact outside her

marriage, gave the news to Sunil, instead of receiving sympathy she faced a

barrage of allegations and insinuations.

The hospital where she had gone for treatment and counseling guided her to an

NGO. Determined to fight for her rights and dignity, she used all the help that

came her way to go to court. She also charged her husband under Sections 269 and

270 of the IPC for hurting her (along with Sections 323 and 325 of the IPC).

Section 269 of the IPC states that whoever unlawfully or negligently commits an

act which is, and which he knows or has reason to believe to be, likely to

spread infection of any disease dangerous to life shall be punished with

imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months or with fine or both.

Section 270 stresses on malignant transmission. On the other hand, Section 323

defines punishment for voluntarily causing hurt, while Section 325 defines

punishment for causing grievous hurt.

Another case concerns 28-year -old Nitin Kapoor, who appeared to love

his wife Gauri Kapoor more with each passing day. The software engineer had met

Gauri, a consultant interior designer, through a common friend.

In the first half of this year, Nitin's health deteriorated.

Tuberculosis made his life miserable for many months and then he was diagnosed

with skin cancer. A blood test also revealed that he was

HIV-positive. Aghast at the discovery, he confronted Gauri who initially denied

anything but later confessed to a brief fling with one of her clients. Outraged,

Nitin has now dragged his wife to court and slapped a suit under Sections 269

and 270 read along with Sections 319 and 320.

Although the west has prosecuted people who had transmitted diseases knowingly

or through criminal indifference, in India, that is yet to

happen. For a long time, diseases were considered acts of god and accepted

fatalistically as one's lot. But things are changing. Both

Savita and Nitin are among the few in Mumbai who have dragged their

spouses to court. Helping them fight for their rights is a non-governmental

organization called the Lawyers Collective.

" We are helping three women and two men who have registered cases against their

respective spouses at a magistrate's court in Mumbai, "

says , legal officer, of Lawyers Collective. In Delhi, there had

been a case where a woman filed a criminal suit against her husband for

transmitting the HIV virus but the suit made no headway as the husband died due

to HIV virus complications. Alaka Deshpande, head of the medicine department and

in charge of treating HIV patients at the government-run J J Hospital, says a

majority of the HIV-positive women who come to the hospital have been infected

by their husband.