Women with HIV/AIDS in India face a disproportionate burden of discrimination. Their families often abandon them once their HIV status becomes known and they have a difficult time finding employment. Faced with trying economic circumstances it not uncommon for these women to have a difficult time accessing proper shelter for themselves and their dependents. A plan developed in 2001 sanctioned the creation of fifty women’s shelters in West Bengal; however only five of these have opened thus far. In this case, the Petitioner’s husband abandoned the farmer after he learned she was HIV positive, leaving her to care for her two young children and elderly mother on her own. She was unable to afford her rent and was turned out of her home, moving, along with her family, to a railway station to seek shelter. The South 24 Parganas Network of People living with HIV/AIDS (SNP+) found accommodation for the Petitioner at Alor Disha Community Centre. The community centre is intended for temporary residence only; however the Petitioner, her children and her mother have been refused at all government-run and private shelters in the area, on the basis of the Petitioner’s HIV status.
The Respondents, Ministry of Women and Child Development of India, the State of West Bengal, Departments for Women and Child Development, Social Welfare and Health and Family Welfare, have agreed to provide shelter to the Petitioner as well as necessary social benefits such as nutrition and education for her education. The High Court ordered that the State also file an affidavit within eight weeks, declaring their planned steps to combat discrimination in the state.
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