Bedi: on a sticky wicket Bedi: on a sticky wicket

Where does a condom belong? That's the issue before a bench of the Delhi High Court this month. A writ petition filed by the aids Bhedbhav Virodhi Andolan (ABVA), an AIDS activist group, is demanding that condoms be made available to the inmates of Tihar Jail in New Delhi. The petition also challenges the notorious Section 377 of the IPC, a 160-year-old clause outlawing homosexual acts.The issue is the latest controversy dogging Delhi's IG (Prisons), Kiran Bedi. It all began with an element of hoopla when a health day was held in Bedi's domain at Tihar where some 400 doctors and paramedics were invited to attend to the prison's patients.But things went sour when Dr. K.K. Aggarwal, a cardiologist from Delhi's Moolchand Hospital, who is also associated with the Delhi Administration's Aids Control Programme, announced that during a visit to two adolescent wards in Tihar on health day, doctors found that more than two-thirds of the inmates acknowledged engaging in homosexual acts. Aggarwal demanded that condoms be distributed as an AIDS prevention measure.An outraged Bedi reacted strongly, maintaining that consensual homosexual activity was virtually unknown at Tihar and that the distribution of condoms would only encourage sexual activity among criminals. The prison apparently conducted a survey of its own through petition boxes and found that homosexuality was "negligible." "My prisoners are hurt by the allegations" says Bedi.She seems to have protested too much. While the two-thirds figure announced by Aggarwal is a highly subjective estimate, Bedi's claim that homosexual activity among prisoners "is not a problem" (read: does not exist) at Tihar has been met with scepticism.Delhi's Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has stated that condoms should be distributed as "AIDS is certainly more dangerous than homosexuality". Vardhan has also directed his law secretary to "see if we can make some sort of change in the law"."It's not a question of morality but of reality." argues Aggarwal who points out that who guidelines recommend the distribution of condoms to prisoners. "Prostitution is also illegal, but the Government accepts the distribution of condoms to prostitutes and Hijras," he says. Meanwhile Bedi is still bristling at what she sees as an attempt to force "western solutions" on "Tihar Ashram."