Sunita Patil (name changed), 28, who is now a constable with the Maharashtra Police, fought two battles simultaneously. One with HIV and the other, with those who denied her a job in the police force despite having cleared her written and physical exams.
After a hard-fought battle, she emerged victorious. Her tenacity and courage could change the way HIV patients are treated in the country. The state is mulling over providing legal aid to HIV-infected patients. Today is World Aids Day.
“I had cleared my entrance exams in 2011. However, I was being discriminated against because I tested HIV positive in my medical tests. I waited for over three months to get orders for my posting as a lady constable, but the officials did not revert. I was harrowed as all other candidates had started working,” Patil told dna.
Upset at being denied her rightful claim to the job, Patil decided to fight the system. “I realised it was against human rights to deny me a job on the grounds of HIV infection. The police told me that I would not be able to carry out my duties as a constable because it would cause me immense physical pain,” Patil said.
Knowing that the Beed police was in the wrong, Patil wrote letters to the National AIDS Control Organisation, Maharashtra State AIDS Control Society (MSACS) and also sought appointments with state officials at Mantralaya to apprise them of her plight.
Her patience was rewarded last year after the state home department passed orders instructing the Beed police that it is improper to discriminate against candidates on the basis of their HIV status. Patil is now undergoing an 11-month training course at the Nagpur police training centre.
The MSACS is in the process of extending legal aid to HIV-infected patients. “We have proposed that legal aid be provided under the legal aid cell in each district. Such cells are set up under the National Legal Authority as constituted under the National Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, to provide free legal services to the weaker section. We will identify discrimination in HIV cases and offer help,” said Dr Swapanali Patil, joint director, Care, Support and Treatment, MSACS.
Maharashtra is one of the six high prevalence states with 3.16 lakh infected population of the 24 lakh HIV-infected people in India.
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