A division bench of High Court of Tripura acting on a PIL has issued notices to both the state and Central governments seeking comprehensive reports on the rising of HIV cases in the state within two weeks.

Giving details government advocate Kohinoor Narayan Bhattacharyya  said that  the public interest litigation (PIL) was taken up suo-moto by the High Court on Thursday  after the reports of an alarming increase in HIV cases and deaths, particularly among the students and the youth of the state.

A division bench of the high court comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice Arindam Lodh took up the PIL following a letter from Justice T. Amarnath Goud, a judge of the High Court, which highlighted the gravity of the situation with details of alarming and increasing trend of HIV and AIDS cases in Tripura, especially among the school and college students.

The bench expressed its deep concerns over the rising HIV cases in the bordering state, said advocate Bhattacharyya and added that the court noted that new cases must be identified regularly and necessary actions should be taken at the earliest.

The High Court also asked the both state and central governments and the secretaries of Health and Education departments of Tripura  to explain the reasons behind the surge in HIV cases, the measures currently in place, and the strategies to curb students injecting drugs through the intravenous mode, a key factor for the spread of the disease in Tripura.

Between April 2007 and May 2024, 828 students registered as PLHIV (People Living With HIV), 47 of whom died during the 17 years.

The Project Director of Tripura State AIDS Control Society, Dr Samarpita Dutta, said that in 2022-23, 67 persons, including two students, died, while in 2023-24, 44 people died after being infected by HIV.

Presently, Tripura has approximately 8,000 known HIV-positive cases, though experts believe the figure represents only a fraction of the actual numbers, as many cases remain untracked and day by day numbers of injectable drug addicted persons are also increasing in the state. (OVER)

The state recorded its first HIV case in 1996. Since then, there has been a marked increase in the number of infections, especially among high-risk groups such as youths using intravenous drugs, female sex workers, truck drivers, migrants, and gay people.