A leading private airline’s alleged refusal to transport the body of a three-year-old HIV-positive child from Chennai to Guwahati has once again exposed HIV/AIDS apartheid on the part of a few, AIDS activist Jahnabi Goswami said on Tuesday.

Goswami slammed the airline on her Facebook page on Monday for its lack of empathy and said she would pursue the matter once the parents of the child come to terms with the tragedy.

The three-year-old’s parents (also HIV-positive) had taken him to Chennai for treatment as he was suffering from low blood count. But the child’s condition worsened and he passed away a few days ago. On Saturday, the child’s body was supposed to be brought back to Assam but at the airport the airline refused to transport the body.

When contacted, Goswami told The Telegraph that the airline’s staff had told the parents that they do not carry “such bodies”. She said it was not just the refusal to transport the body but the “excuse” that the staff came up with that was unfortunate.

Goswami said, “The parents contacted me on Sunday and on Monday after the incident happened. They had taken their child to Chennai for treatment more than a week ago. The child, who was recently initiated with Antiretroviral Therapy (ART), had some blood complication — his blood was less. In Chennai, his condition worsened and he passed away. But the ordeal started at Chennai airport when the private airline refused to carry his body. The boy’s relatives wished to see him one last time but the parents had to cremate their child in Chennai as the airline told them flatly that they do not take such bodies. The parents returned to Assam on Monday and they are in a very bad state. The mother of the child has been given sedatives. I called them up on Tuesday. A close relative told me the entire family is in a bad shape. I have posted about the incident on my Facebook account.”

She said, “Next time if I have to travel by that airline, I will declare my HIV-positive status to the airline. Let’s see what they do.” She said she is considering taking the case to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) since the incident violated the rights of the traumatised parents.

The airline posted a message to Goswami on its Facebook account on Tuesday: “We are really sad to read this and there must be some other reason for denying this”. It sought more details about the incident so that “they may get this checked with their team immediately”.

Goswami said the preliminary death certificate had mentioned the child’s status as “immunocompromised”. She said the term is used in mostly HIV-positive cases so that the status is not known to others to avoid stigma and taboo associated with HIV-positive cases.

Repeated attempts to contact the airline’s authorities over phone, email and via Facebook but a response is still awaited.

This incident comes on the heels of Arman Ali, executive director of the non-profit National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People, being refused a ride by a driver of a private-App-based taxi company, also in Chennai.