Convict moves SC for compensation for acquiring HIV in jail

New Delhi: A murder convict serving life imprisonment moved the Supreme Court for his release and compensation of Rs 75 lakh for having contracted HIV and another infection allegedly during his stay in jail.

His appeal against the dismissal of his plea in the Punjab and Haryana High Court was mentioned before a bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam which posted the matter for hearing before an appropriate bench on December 17. He approached the apex court after his appeal challenging his conviction was dismissed in August last year by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

In his plea filed through advocate Manohar Singh Bakshi, the convict has submitted that he has been lodged in a Punjab jail since 2007, when the offence was committed, and during his incarceration he contracted HIV and then HCV (Hepatitis C). He has also challenged his conviction and sentence in the murder case by the trial court and later upheld by the high court.

In his petition, he has blamed the "faulty system, arbitrary working and negligence" of the jail authorities for his afflictions and has also sought a investigation into how he contracted the diseases while in prison.

He has also sought issuance of guidelines in the interest of other convicts and undertrials lodged in central jails, saying the matter is of a serious nature and "may lead to disaster if not examined and stopped".

He has alleged inaction on the part of the authorities for not acting on the pleas of his wife who had filed applications seeking better treatment for him when he tested positive for HIV and later when he was afflicted with Hepatitis C.

He was registered as a patient in ART Centre, Medical College, Amritsar on February 4, this year, he has said. His petition also alleges that the jail authorities apart from not providing proper treatment were also ignoring the abuse, threats and inhuman behaviour meted out to him by other inmates ever since they came to know about his afflictions