Orphaned by AIDS, five siblings in Pratapgarh are forced to live in the graveyard where their parents were buried after they were ostracised by the villagers fearing they would also get this dreaded disease.
The five siblings — four brothers and a sister — with youngest of them seven years old and the eldest 17 years have been staying under blue-colored tattered tarpaulin for the last three months and ate whatever was given to them by the people in Jamauwa village in Pratapgarh, 160 km south-east of lucknow.
“Our father died of AIDS two years back and after the death of my mother three months back the villagers asked us to vacate the house as they feared they would get AIDS,” Nishar Bano, the only girl among the siblings said.
The villagers are not sure whether these children have AIDS. “Their parents were HIV patients and died of AIDS. So, we believe these children too are AIDS patient,” Rahat Hasan, a former village head told The Pioneer over phone.
“The villagers gave them food but did not allow their children to play with them. The eldest of the siblings used to go to school but has stopped going there,” Hasan said.
“If Government carries out HIV test of these children and they test negative we have no objection in taking them back,” he said.
District Magistrate Vidya Bhushan said efforts are on to rehabilitate these children. They have been given house under a Government scheme and financial help has also been extended to them.