HIV-positive woman denied custody of daughter in India
An HIV-positive woman was denied custody of her eight-year-old daughter by a court, a rights activist in India said today.
The unidentified woman married a soldier from north-western Rajasthan state in the late 1990s without knowing that he was HIV-positive, said Kavita Srivastav of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties.
Her husband died four years ago. After his death her in-laws began treating the woman badly and took her daughter away on the grounds that the mother had become HIV positive.
She moved to her parents’ home and later approached a court in Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, for custody of her daughter.
The court rejected her plea earlier this week, ruling that she would not able to take care of her daughter because of her HIV-positive status.
The People’s Union for Civil Liberties challenged the verdict in an appeal court yesterday.
