AIDS patient kin try to bury him alive

An attempt to allegedly bury an AIDS patient alive was prevented by the people at Balambalpuram in Karur district.

Police said M. Jaffer Sadiq (32), a driver, was admitted to Madurai Government Rajaji Hospital recently for suspected HIV infection. On Sunday, he slipped into coma. The doctors declared that he would ‘‘die in a few hours’’ whereupon his relatives transported him back to Karur by car. But his neighbours objected to his being kept in the house. And his relatives, assuming he would die soon, organised his ‘‘last procession’’. However, the watchman of the burial ground got panicky and informed the local Muslim dignitaries, police said.

	‘3 lakh Indians infected in 2003’
			NEW DELHI: Three lakh Indians acquired HIV in the past one year with serious AIDS epidemic underway in many states like Maharashtra, TN and Manipur, according to a release by UNAIDS and the WHO on Tuesday. (PTI)