Man moves Gujarat High Court, alleges HIV status revealed after arrest

WEEKS AFTER the Gujarat High Court granted conditional bail to a Syrian gay man, living with HIV and facing deportation proceedings, his HIV positive Indian partner has moved the High Court seeking compensation from the State, alleging that police unlawfully disclosed his HIV status and sexuality to the media, triggering “social ostracisation, loss of livelihood and the closure of the school he had founded”.

The petitioner, filed through Advocate Rohin Bhatt, is seeking “exemplary compensation” from the State, alleging violations of the fundamental right to privacy and statutory protections under the Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (Prevention and Control) Act, 2017. The State government, the Education Department and the Superintendent of Police of Devbhumi Dwarka district are respondents in the case.

The petitioner contends that police personnel disclosed his HIV status and sexual orientation to the media while he was in custody, resulting in widespread publication of his identity and personal medical information. Police arrested the petitioner and his Syrian partner during a Special Operations Group operation in Devbhumi Dwarka on November 14 last year. The Syrian national, who was subsequently booked under the Foreigners Act for allegedly overstaying in India, was granted conditional bail by the High Court in May this year after the State did not dispute his deteriorating health condition. The main petition challenging the criminal proceedings and seeking protection from deportation remains pending.

In the new petition, the Indian partner has alleged that after the arrest, both men were interrogated by the Gujarat Police and officials claiming to represent various intelligence agencies. An FIR was later registered under Sections 14A and 14C of the Foreigners Act at a police station in the district.

According to the petition, the turning point came on November 18, 2025, when the two men were allegedly “paraded before media” while in police custody. The petition states that their identities and photographs were subsequently published by newspapers and online platforms, along with details relating to the petitioner’s HIV status and sexuality.

The petitioner has alleged that the fallout extended far beyond the criminal case. He informed the court that he had established a school in June 2022, registered as a Sarvodaya Prathmik Shala under the Education Department. However, following the media coverage, officials from the education department allegedly began putting pressure on him to distance himself from the institution.

The petition states that in December 2025, a team of officials visited the school and instructed him to stop visiting the premises and shut down the institution, allegedly threatening that it would otherwise be sealed. The petitioner claims he was directed to hand over management of the school to a teacher.

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The petition also alleges that on January 8, 2026, an official compelled the school to conduct HIV testing of all enrolled children after obtaining parental consent. According to the petition, all children were tested and none were found to be HIV positive. Despite this, the petitioner claims the stigma surrounding the disclosures continued.

On May 16, 2026, he informed parents that the school would be shut down and asked them to collect school-leaving certificates and examination results. The petition states that he was forced into that decision because of the “severe stress, opprobrium, and the media trial” that followed publication of his HIV status while he was in police custody.

Detailing the consequences he claims to have suffered, the petitioner states that publication of his HIV status has caused “immense mental trauma, public humiliation, social ostracization, and a complete loss of livelihood…”

Since the publication of the news of his arrest and his HIV status, the petitioner is virtually ostracised from his community,” the petition states. It adds that his family and friends “no longer speak to him”.

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The petition further claims that he has been “isolated within his home by his brother and parents, denied access to shared household items, and subjected to verbal abuse due to his HIV status having been forcefully revealed.” It also alleges that he has been denied routine services in his town, including access to his barber and doctor, “all of which has forced him to live a life in isolation.”

The petitioner argues that disclosure of his HIV status amounted to a breach of informational privacy protected under Article 21 of the Constitution. Relying on Supreme Court judgments the petition contends that sensitive medical information attracts a heightened expectation of privacy and that unauthorised disclosure caused “irreparable harm to his dignity and reputation.”

The HC is expected to hear the matter in the coming weeks.