SANGLI, NOV 8: A young bride from a village in Khanapur taluka in Sangli district is now counting her last days. She has been declared a full blown case of AIDS, courtesy her husband who allegedly infected her with the HIV despite being aware that he was a carrier of the virus.Nanda Amre's tale will move even the hardest soul. For no fault of hers, the 22-year-old finds herself on the threshold of death. In just two years, dreams of a happy married life have crumbled. The dying Nanda, however, refuses to give up without a fight. She has moved the courts for ``justice and honour.''Her tale of trauma began soon after she cleared her SSC. Nanda had plans to study further. But fate had decided otherwise. There was a surprise - one of the richest families in the village approached her family for her hand in marriage. After marriage, Nanda's husband, Mahesh, went regularly to Tamil Nadu for business, sometimes staying away from home for months. One day he was brought home in a serious condition and hospitalised. When his condition became critical, Mahesh was moved to Mumbai where after a series of tests, doctors found Mahesh to be an AIDS patient in the last stages of life. Soon a shocked Nanda was informed by the doctors that she too had AIDS, the virus having been passed on by her husband.Mahesh died in hospital. A few months after his death, Nanda's health deteriorated and she was thrown out of the house by her in-laws. When Nanda demanded her share of the property, she was rudely turned away. She was told that if she went to the police or the court she and her family would face the consequences.Refusing to be cowed down, Nanda filed a case in the Sangli court against her in-laws. ``I am not fighting this case for property. What will I do with money when my life will end soon.'' asks Nanda, tears rolling down her cheeks. ``I only want to punish them for playing with my life,'' she says. Advocate Dattajirao Mane, who has taken up Nanda's case, says this case should enlighten people in the rural areas. ``You will find many such cases in rural parts of Sangli district,'' says Mane.Meanwhile, the Maratha Mahasangh in Sangli has appealed the public that blood tests of both the boy and girl should be conducted before marriage.(Names of the victim and her husband have been changed to protect their identities.)
