An ostracised HIV/Aids patient committed suicide by setting himself on fire in the eastern state of Bihar, reports said yesterday.
The man immolated himself in a village in southern Jamui district on Saturday.
“The family used to go without food due to poverty and he was treated badly by the villagers,” a relative said.
The immediate provocation for the drastic act was reportedly a quack doctor who said his days were numbered.
The man had been suffering from high fever, cough and weakness since his return from Kolkata last year. “He became skinny and could not walk properly,” said a villager.
Like millions of migrant workers who leave home in search of better prospects, he too had gone to Kolkata two years ago to earn a livelihood.
He contracted the virus in Kolkata, and his wife got it from him, health officials said.
According to official figures, 1,100 people among Bihar’s over 83mn population are infected with the virus, but Aids campaigners claim the figures are underreported.
However we as custodians of our countries have to guard against such incidents as each individual has a right to live his life and the NGO's have to derive a lesson from it.
