21st century India cannot shun leprosy patients: SC

21st century India cannot shun leprosy patients: SC

Context

Twenty­ first century society cannot justify shunning persons affected by leprosy or keeping them hidden in homes and away from the mainstream,

the Supreme Court declared in an order on Monday

What has happened?

A bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, acting on a PIL filed by Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy has asked the central government to respond in eight weeks to a call to repeal 119 Central and State laws in practice since the 1950s that discriminate against leprosy patients, stigmatize and isolate them despite the fact that modern medicine completely cures the disease

• Bench found that these statutory laws continue to recognise superstitions that leprosy is “infectious and has something to do with genetics”

Bench’s observations

Twenty-first century society cannot justify shunning persons affected by leprosy or keeping them hidden in homes and away from the mainstream

Petitioners’ position

• The petition has urged the court to intervene and pave the way for recognising the fundamental right to equality, dignity and equal opportunity of persons affected by leprosy
• These laws rob persons affected by leprosy by denying them equal treatment under personal laws, in matters of employment and appointment or election to public office, as well as access to and free movement in public places
• Such unequal treatment irrationally treats persons affected by leprosy as a separate class even though with the latest medical advancements, leprosy is rendered non-infectious after the very first dose of Multi-Drug Therapy (MDT), the World Health Organisation-recommended treatment regime for leprosy

How such laws discriminate?

There are 119 laws that discriminate against persons affected by leprosy in broadly the following five ways:

• Cause stigmatization and indignity to persons affected by leprosy
• Isolate/segregate persons affected by leprosy
• Deny them access to public services
• Impose disqualifications on them under personal laws
• Bar them from occupying or standing for public posts or office

Discriminatory laws

• Some of the discriminatory provisions are part of laws named in the petition, which include the
• Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation Act, 1981
• Puducherry Municipalities Act, 1973
• Tamil Nadu District Municipalities Act, 1920
• Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957
• Chennai Municipal Corporation Act, 1919
• Kerala Khadi and Village Industries Board Act of 1957
• Andhra Pradesh Public Libraries Act of 1969, which bans membership to persons affected by leprosy

MDT for leprosy

The drugs used in WHO-MDT are a combination of rifampicin, clofazimine and dapsone for MB leprosy patients and rifampicin and dapsone for PB leprosy patients

• Among these rifampicin is the most important antileprosy drug and therefore is included in the treatment of both types of leprosy