HIV rumour: Mother files FR petition

A mother, resident of Kuliyapitiya filed a fundamental rights violation petition complaining that her child’s school admission to grade one had callously been denied to all the schools in Kuliyapitiya zone due to falsely circulated rumour that her child was HIV positive.

Petitioners, the mother and her child (names are withheld on the ground of ethics) cited Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, Provincial Director of Education J.G.N. Thilakarathna, Zonal Director of Education A.S.K. Jayalath, the Principals of Bohandiya Primary School, Illukhena and Sripathi Royal College, Diyakalamulla as well as the Education Ministry Secretary, IGP and the Attorney General as Respondents.

Petitioner mother states that she and one Silva were in a de facto marriage since 2009 and the child was born on 17.09.2010 and that father of the child died of Sepsis Tuberculosis on 24.09.2015.
She laments a false rumour was circulated by persons with vested interests that the child is HIV positive and his father died of HIV/AIDS.

The Principals of both schools indicated unwillingness to admit the child purportedly due to the aforesaid false rumour and the protests by some parents.

She state notwithstanding the fact that there was no obligation to do so, in view of the compulsions arising from the exigencies of the attendant situation, her child was subjected to an HIV test which confirmed that her child was not HIV positive.

She bemoans that she desperately visited a number of schools in the area, beseeching the respective principals to admit her child but those principals did not admit her child as the Principal of Bohandiya Primary School had informed them not to admit.

She pleads that fundamental rights of her child to equality and equal protection of the law, that no citizen shall be discriminated against on the grounds of race, religion, language, caste, sex, political opinion, place of birth or any one of such ground and the freedom from torture, cruelty, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and the right to the freedom of movement including the right to choose his residence within Sri Lanka are infringed by the Respondents.

She is seeking the Court to direct the IGP to take all necessary steps to ensure that her child’s right to a formal education and school attendance is not disrupted or obstructed or impeded by any person or persons and to conduct an investigation as to whether any one of the respondents are acting under duress or coercion or undue influence of any form or manner.

She is seeking a declaration from the Court that her child is entitled to be forthwith admitted to Grade One in a government school within two miles of her residence. (S.S. Selvanayagam)