NHRC seeks report on plight of children of HIV+ parents

National Human Rights Commission today sought a report from Pratapgarh district authorities in Uttar Pradesh on the plight of children who have been forced to live in a graveyard by villagers after death of their HIV positive parents.
According to an NHRC statement released today, the rights panel has issued a notice in this connection to District Magistrate of Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh asking him to submit a report within four weeks.
The notice was issued after the Commission took suo-motu cognisance of media reports that five children, aged between 7 and 17 years, have been forced by their fellow villagers to live under a tarpaulin shed in a graveyard, where their parents are buried.

They were chased out of their house in Jamua village of Pratapgarh district, Uttar Pradesh after their mother succumbed to HIV/AIDS recently. Their father had also died due to HIV/AIDS, the statement said.
Reportedly, the villagers did not want these children to stay in their house as they feared that they might also be HIV infected. The children have stopped attending school and are surviving on food given by some villagers.
The Commission has observed that the contents of the press report, if true, raise a serious issue of violation of human rights of the children.