The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken suo motu cognizance of a media report that 24 prisoners tested positive for HIV in the last four months at Gorakhpur District Jail in Uttar Pradesh. They include 21 undertrials and three convicts, including a woman.
During tests conducted by Uttar Pradesh State AIDS Control Society in 70 jails of the state, 265 prisoners were tested HIV positive till December last year. These cases were reported from jails in Bareilly, Allahabad, Gorakhpur, lucknow, Faizabad, Agra, Meerut, Varanasi and Kanpur.
In wake of the above finding, the Commission issued notices to Chief Secretary and IG (Prisons) of Uttar Pradesh calling for detailed reports in the matter within six weeks along with the steps taken to deal with it.
It also observed that the contents of news report, if true, indicated towards the sorry state of affairs in the jails of Uttar Pradesh. Seemingly, there is an urgent need to conduct a probe into the matter to determine the cause of the spread of HIV infection among prisoners.
The Commission observed that it was also necessary to take immediate preventive measures so that other prisoners did not fall prey to the infection and those, who were suffering were provided necessary medical treatment.
As per the media report carried on February 28, 2018, the jail administration claimed that the disease did not spread inside the jail and prisoners were already infected when they arrived. Most of them have been jailed under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. As reported, in October last year, on the initiative of Uttar Pradesh State AIDS Control Society, a camp was started to conduct blood tests on prisoners to detect HIV and more than half of the inmates lodged were tested.