The three-member jury, chaired by retired district and sessions judge C. Upendra Singh, made four recommendations. These include a legislation to prevent discrimination, loans from nationalised banks at nominal rates of interest and either jobs or pension. The jury also urged the government to introduce a scheme for reimbursement of medical expenditure incurred by HIV-positive people.

The NGOs that are part of the initiative will formally submit these recommendations to the government.

The daylong public hearing on HIV/AIDS-related stigma, discrimination and human rights violation in Imphal was the first of its kind in a state that figures among the six states of the country where AIDS prevalence is the highest.

The hearing was organised by the Northeast India Harm Reduction Network in partnership with the Manipur Network of Positive People, the Social Awareness Service Organisation and the Kripa Society, all based in Imphal.

Till September last year, AIDS had claimed 505 lives in Manipur and as many as 3,537 cases of full-blown AIDS officially registered.

Although over 20,000 people have tested HIV-positive in the state so far, only about 1,400 regularly come to the two ART centres in Imphal for treatment.

This, an official of the state health department explained, was due to social discrimination. ?The government has been implementing various programmes for those living with HIV/AIDS, but they continue to be socially ostracised. Worse still, their own families let them down.?

(Some names have been changed to protect identities)