UP: Facing social boycott, HIV-positive father and two daughters commit suicide

July 15 (AZINS) Three HIV-positive members of a family committed suicide by hanging themselves in Kushinagar district of Uttar Pradesh on Saturday. The dead included 50-year-old father and two daughters, aged 20 and 12 years.

Ramnath Singh, a resident of Mahua Tola in Barwalia Bujurg village in Kushinagar district and his two daughters were infected with HIV a few years back. His wife, who was also infected by the HIV, had died last year.

The entire village knew the family was HIV-positive. They were socially boycotted many a times and villagers were not allowing any one to visit them. The marriage of Ramnath’s elder daughter was broken three months back after the groom’s family came to know that she was HIV-positive.

The 12-year-old younger daughter also met similar treatment in her school and she was forced to quit school after students objected to her presence. After social ostracism, the HIV-positive family had slipped into deep depression for the past one month.

“They were under treatment but their condition was deteriorating day by day. After break-up of his daughter marriage, my brother and his family had almost stopped stepping out of the house and was under deep depression,” said Ram Naresh Singh, his elder brother, living next door.

When there was no activity till noon in the house, Ram Naresh went to peep through the window only to find that three were hanging from the ceiling. The Superintendent of Police Kushinagar A.K. Pandey said that a case has been registered and the bodies have been sent for post-mortem to ascertain the cause of death and to confirm if they were HIV-positive.

“We will carry out investigations to check if the family was ever harassed or boycotted in the village. The Police will also talk to the school management for reasons of the younger daughter leaving the school,” assured the SSP.