Alipurduar, May 29: A 35-year-old man suspected to be HIV positive was forced to spend a night in the open with his wife and two daughters after being driven out of the house by his elder brother.

Ranjan Dutta (all names changed), a resident of Ward 11 here, was shifted to the medical college in Siliguri from Alipurduar Hospital where he was treated for fever for three months.

A test at North Bengal Medical College and Hospital had reportedly confirmed that Ranjan was HIV positive.

“The hospital authorities did not give me the report, but told me that he was suffering from AIDS. My neighbours have threatened to boycott me if I give them shelter,” said Anjan, Ranjan’s brother, who works as a cook.

While Ranjan was in NBMCH, his family lived in the house of a distant relative in Siliguri. Yesterday, when they came back, Anjan and his neighbours did not allow them to enter the house.

The family then took shelter under a shade in a nearby market. There too, the local people were almost on the verge of throwing them out. A local eatery owner would not even allow Biswajit Das, a resident, to buy food for Ranjan.

“But a few good people intervened and we were allowed to stay,” said Preeti, Ranjan’s wife.

Mahakal Chakroborty, who once worked under an eye surgeon, summed up the local people’s opinion: “There is only one deep tubewell in this area. Ranjan’s wife will be using it and we cannot allow that. Besides we don’t want our children to play with their girls. His own brother is not ready to take him in, then why will we take the risk?”

This morning, some local people contacted the Red Cross, which came to the family’s rescue.

Swapan Bhaduri, the secretary of the Alipurduar Red Cross Society, said it was unfortunate that the elder brother spread the news of Ranjan’s infection in the neighbourhood. “I have heard about Ranjan’s case at NBMCH. We have sent them to an ashram in Matigara in Siliguri. From there, Ranjan will be able to continue his treatment. Maybe when he gets a little better, a livelihood could be arranged for him.”

Dipto Chatterjee, the vice-chairman of Alipurduar Municipality, said it was unfortunate that in civic areas, too, people had wrong notions about the disease.