Tamil Nau: Mob tries to burn HIV+ couple, 4 kids

January 19, 2011

Mob tries to burn HIV+ couple, 4 kids

D Madhavan, TNN, Jan 17, 2011

CHENGELPET (TN): A group of villagers of Thirumani in Chengalpet set fire to a

thatched house in which two HIV positive people, along with four children, were

sleeping. K Radhakrishnan (41), his wife R Kanchana (36), their two daughters

and two nieces escaped, some of them with minor injuries. Radhakrishnan said in

his complaint that Thirumani panchayat president V Rajagopal, who wanted the

family to vacate the village because of the couple's HIV positive status, was

behind the incident. Police have registered a case of attempt to murder, but

have not arrested anyone.

" What wrong did we do? " wailed Kanchana, when TOI visited the couple on Sunday.

" We were thrown out of our rented houses in Chengalpet many times after the

owners came to know that we were HIV positive. "

Radhakrishnan said the group locked the house from outside and set fire to it at

2.30 am on Thursday because he refused to listen to the village leaders' diktat

that they go away from the village. Radhakrishnan and his wife R Kanchana work

as coordinators for the Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society. They were fast

asleep, along with four children when they realised the house was on fire.

Radhakrishnan sustained injuries on his forehead and arms and his two-year-old

daughter R Jemimu suffered bruises on her abdomen while trying to get out of the

house on fire.

The injured were taken to the Chengalpet Medical College Hospital and discharged

in a day. The couple now live with a relative in Chengalpet without police

protection.

Radhakrishnan said he woke up early in the morning and saw flames engulfing the

thatched roof. He tried to open the door, but it was latched from outside. When

the couple cried for help, some neighbours came to their rescue. " The stigma

should end. Most families have a person with some aliment. It is not proper to

isolate HIV positive people just because they have infection, " said S

Nandakumar, a neighbour who helped put out the fire.

Not many in the village echo Nandakumar's sentiments. Panchayat president V

Rajagopal, who has been named in the FIR as a suspect, is among those opposed to

the family living in the village. When approached by TOI, Rajagopal denied that

any such incident happened in the village. " To my knowledge, no house was

burnt, " said Rajagopal.

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