Recently, there have been news about discriminatory practices against suspected and cured COVID-19 Patients… quite famously, Actor-Singer Meiyang Chang has quite famously stated: “My name is Chang, and I am not Corona Virus”… The public narrative of the history of origin and spread of the disease in India has made certain communities very vulnerable to discrimination and even assault… India has promised itself a non-discriminatory society and abolished untouchability… the promise of Article 17 of the consitution must extend to all modern forms of “Untouchability” and a resolve to weed out all exclusionary practices from the society… There has to be a general recognition that, like in the case of HIV/ AIDS, discrimination against the COVID patients or persons involved in their care is going to be counterproductive and fan the spread of the epidemic to the general population… Explicit statements of non-discrimination from industry bodies and other collectives need to come through quickly. … Legislative measures also may need to be adopted. The Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (Prevention and Control) Act, 2017 could be enlarged to cover COVID-19.
Atmabodh 