AIDS victim denied cremation in Orissa

February 15, 2008

By OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 14: The superstition and stigma attached with AIDS

has unfolded yet again in a remote village in Orissa's Kendrapara

district.

As in life, his death was horrifying with superstition-driven

residents of Dandisahi hamlet under the Pattamundai police station,

disallowing cremation of the body after his death on Tuesday night.

The fear psychosis was so deep that the relative and neighbours

believed that the smoke billowing from the funeral pyre will spread

the virus.

The shocking incident amply demonstrates how the unfounded belief of

this nature has proved to be as dangerous as the hitherto-incurable

disease.

The 54-year-old victim, N. Biswal, was leading a life in confinement

at his ancestral house.

Besides the aged mother, his spouse and two daughters had abandoned

the house on the advice of elderly villagers. There was heated

argument over the performance of last rites of the victim. The

deceased's estranged elder brother was summoned to the village and

was told of the majority view on the burial of the body.

The firm belief that the cremation would vitiate the air and spread

the virus from the mortal remains was firmly entrenched in the minds

of one and all.

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