SC notice over Army sacking HIV+ jawan

[Guest guest]

Havildar Ravinder Prakash (name changed) is a veteran of many operations. He has

fought in Sri Lanka for the Indian Peace-Keeping Force (IPKF) and battled

terrorists in the jungles of the North-East and Kashmir.

But his romance with the olive green will end on Monday. After having been

diagnosed HIV-positive, the 42-year-old has been thrown out of job. However, the

soldier in him refuses to die. On Friday, Prakash moved the Supreme Court

challenging his discharge from the services. Though he did not get interim

relief from the vacation bench of Justices Altamas Kabir and GS Singhvi, the

court issued a notice to the army, seeking a response to his petition by August

6, the next date of hearing.

A native of Pratapgarh in UP, Prakash joined the army in 1984. After 14 years of

service, he was diagnosed HIV-positive in 1998 during a blood donation camp in

Delhi Cantonment. His HIV-positive status was communicated to his superiors and

he was accordingly placed in the medical classification of P2, normally given to

HIV-positive personnel not on Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART). Prakash was also

promoted from Naik to Havildar.

However, in June 2007, his blood count began to fall, following which he was

given the ART. Three months later, he was classified in the P3 category.

Prakash’s advocate Aagney Sail says that though the army’s medical officer

certified he was capable of performing his duties in December 2007, Prakash’s

seniors issued a discharge notice.

Earlier, Prakash had moved the Delhi High Court against the removal notice.

Though he got a stay on the discharge notice, the High Court vacated the stay in

May.

Sail called the army policy of sacking HIV-positive personnel “a retrograde

one†and told the court that his client had been sacked “on the erroneous

assumption that HIV-positive persons are inherently incapable of serving in the

army.â€

http://www.hindustantimes.com/storypage/storypage.aspx?id=267f2ba7-817b-4802-943\

a-6e7b4e5270b3 & & Headline=SC+notice+over+Army+sacking+HIV%2b+jawan