Legislation soon to end stigma of leprosy

India has the highest number of leprosy cases at 58 pc

Noting that leprosy is a curable disease, the Law Commission has favoured new legislation to eliminate discrimination against those affected by the disease and towards this end recommended the repeal and amendment of certain Acts.

With India having the largest number (58 per cent) of leprosy cases globally, the panel has sought the removal of the social stigma and ending of discrimination towards lepers.
The Commission headed by Justice M B Shah has recommended amendments to personal laws such as the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, the Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act, 1939, the amended Indian Divorce Act, 1869, Special Marriage Act, 1954 and the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956, since they provided a ground for divorce, annulment of marriage or separation without forfeiture of maintenance.

It pointed out that leprosy is no longer an incurable disease and can be treated by MDT, which in its first dose itself kills 99.9 per cent of the leprosy bacillus and renders the infection noncontagious and non-virulent.

“One of the main objectives behind the inclusion of these provisions under the relevant legislations has been to restrain the spread of the infection of leprosy (given that it is a communicable disease) to the unaffected spouse,” the panel said in a report submitted to Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda.

Land Rights
The Commission also recommended that to tackle the issue of land rights, the proposed legislation — the draft Eliminating Discrimination Against Persons Affected by Leprosy Bill, 2015 — should take measures to legalise title and ownership of property in the 850 leprosy colonies in the country.

 In case land rights cannot be given, alternative settlement options should be explored with the consent of the persons affected by leprosy and their family members.

Referring to the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, the panel said many employers misused the existing employment legislations to terminate the employment of persons diagnosed with leprosy.

“The Law Commission recommends that to tackle these issues of employment, the proposed legislation should include measures that prohibit termination of employment of persons affected by leprosy and their family members solely on the basis of the infection of the disease and the associated stigma,” the report said.

It said the Lepers Act, 1898 should be repealed as it enforced compulsory segregation of leprosy patients.