HC orders Rs 25L compensation, govt job for HIV+ Sattur woman

Hearing a PIL, a division bench of the court’s Madurai bench comprising Justices N Kirubakaran and SS Sundar directed that Rs 10 lakh be deposited in the name of the 23-year-old woman and the remaining Rs 15 lakh in the name of her two children. Also, it ordered that the woman be provided a house measuring not less than 450 sq feet.

The judges said the order must be carried out by January 11.

The petitioner submitted that the woman got the infection as the blood transfused was not properly screened. The PIL had also sought a direction to the government to fill vacancies in the Tamil Nadu AIDS Control Board and that the woman should be given proper treatment.

The pregnant woman was affected by the transfusion of infected blood from a blood bank, the petitioner submitted, adding the blood donor was also not aware that he wasHIV positive.

Three workers of the government hospital at Sivakasi have been suspended as they failed to screen the blood properly, according to thepetitioner.