Doctor charged for hiding HIV status

[Guest guest]

Doctor may be charged for hiding HIV status from wife -

By - Times News Network - Soumittra S. Bose, Nagpur

17 April, 2007. The Lucknow-based doctor who was arrested for ill-treating his

wife, likely to be charged for hiding his HIV+ status from wife.

Dr. Harshvardhan Chaturvedi was arrested on Friday by Dhantoli Police (Nagpur)

for torturing his wife Anjali (name changed). His mother Ashadevi was also

arrested, while his father Dr. Prakashchandra Chaturvedi and sister Jaya have

been made co-accused in the case. Dr. Harshvardhan and his father are attached

to the reputed Baba Benarasi Das Dental College in Lucknow.

Anjali's family has claimed that she was infected by her husband who neither

disclosed his medical status to her nor took care to prevent passing on the

deadly infection. " Whenever Anjali complained of ill-health, she was ignored and

treated badly by her in-laws, " said Anjali's brother. Anjali and Harshvardhan

were married for six years.

Said city police chief SPS Yadav: " If we find out during investigation that Dr.

Chaturvedi fully knew about his health status and intentionally concealed it

from his wife, he would be held responsible for passing the deadly disease to

his wife. " . Apart from neglecting Anjali's health, her in-laws also tortured her

on various occassions during the last six years, the victim's family claimed.

Meanwhile, Dhantoli police team has reached Lucknow to investigate the

involvement of Anjali's father-in-law Dr. Prakashchandra Chaturvedi and

sister-in-law Jaya Chaturvedi in the matter.

" Police have learnt that Dr. Chaturvedi was taking Ayurvedic treatment for his

health condition in Hyderabad prior to the marriage and we need to verify this,'

Yadav said.

" Though Chaturvedi was based in Bijapur when the marriage was fixed, he

insisted that the ceremony was held in Nagpur probably because he feared being

exposed, " claimed Anjali's brother.

Anjali came to know about the HIV status of her husband only two years ago. Only

in December last year, she found that she was also infected with the disease.

----------------------

F. Borges

Programme Coordinator, HIV/AIDS

Advocacy and Care & Support

The Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA)

140, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Nagpur - 440001, Maharashtra, India

Phone: +91-712-2524 834, 2548 789, 2540 024; Telefax: +91-712-2548 789

Cell: +91-9923414559. E-mail: peter.borges@...,

petervision2025@...

[Guest guest]

Dear All

Re: /message/7153

It is high time to make HIV test mandatory before marriage and whatever

tradition or religion marriage may be held it must get legal sanction through

court where this test age and many more issues can be verified.

It will not only help curb HIV/AIDS issue it will prevent violence on brides or

women in general and no " chaturvedis " can dare transmit disease or torture the

wives.

Dr. Sadhu. Charan Panda

Editor, " journal of community medicine "

v.s.s.medical college,Burla-768017,ORISSA

e-mail: <sadhucmvss@...>