The proposed Bill for prevention and control of HIV/AIDS, incorporating a provision on compulsory test for both the bride and the groom, will be introduced in the AP Assembly during the next monsoon session. The Bill would be put up for public debate before presenting to the Assembly to make it a law.

Participating in the state-level policy-makers conference on HIV/AIDS in Hyderabad on Friday, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu said the Bill which would make it mandatory for both the prospective bride and groom to undergo medical examination before marriage at the request of any one of the parties to the marriage would have to be discussed at length.

The meeting was attended by hardly 25 people, more than half of them being media personnel. The Chief Minister had to wait for more than half-an-hour even to get this small audience and begin the conference which was attended by Speaker Pratibha Bharati and Opposition leader Y S Rajasekhar Reddy, Law Minister P Chandrasekhar and Health Minister Kodela Sivaprasada Rao. Most of the MLAs, including those from the Treasury benches, chose to ignore the state-level conference of policy-makers on the dreaded disease.

The draft Bill proposes that either party in a marriage can ask for a screening test for the other party before the marriage. In that case, the other party should produce an all-clear certificate from a recognised laboratory. A person who conceals HIV infection or AIDS will go to jail for 7 years and their abettors will get a jail term of 5 years.

The draft Bill, which was circulated at the policy-makers conference, would be put up for public debate soon. " We want the people to debate and come out with suggestions," the Chief Minister said.

On making HIV/AIDS test mandatory before marriage, Naidu said, " we have to put up that too for public debate."

In 90% of the cases, the disease was transmitted through sexual intercourse . Therefore, concentration should be on the high risk population. The spread of AIDS was high in economically developed states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. There were 4 lakh identified cases in AP, he said.

But the silver lining, as the chief Minister put it, was the fact that the prevalence in AP had come down from 2.44 per cent in 1999 to 1.62 per cent in 2002.

Explaining the salient features of the draft Bill, Law Minister P Chandrasekhar said it was primarily aimed at empowering either partner in a marriage to insist on the other undergoing HIV test and producing a certificate before tying the wedding knot. Any person, who is suffering from the disease, dishonestly or with fraudulent intention marries, his or her marriage would be void. Such a person would be punished for a term of up to 7 years in jail and fine which may extend to Rs1 lakh. Abettors of such marriages would get a jail term of up to five years.

The Bill also prohibits persons having knowledge that he is infected with HIV from donating his blood, any organ or semen to any blood bank or hospital. The police have been given powers to arrest any person trying to spread HIV or AIDS by injecting or through blood transfusion and subject him to medical check-up by the designated health official.

CLP leader DR YS Rajasekhar Reddy observed that the government should play a pro-active role. The state was in the second place in HIV cases, he said, and underscored the need for spreading awareness among the people. The future generation would not forgive if the present society faltered, Dr Reddy said.

Speaker Pratibha Bharati said the increase in AIDS cases was alarming with 14,000 new cases being reported every day in the world with 50 % in the 15-25 age group. By the end of 2002, more than 4.2 crore people were affected, of whom 27.90 lakh died, she said.

Health Minister Kodela Sivaprasada Rao also spoke about the mangitude of the problem and said the Bill would be introduced during the next session.