Pratapgarh (UP), Jan 22: Jail authorities in Pratapgarh have been put on alert after seven transgender inmates lodged in the district prison tested HIV positive in preliminary screening, officials said on Thursday.
District Jail Superintendent Rishabh Dwivedi said the Kotwali Nagar police had sent 13 transgender persons to jail on Sunday in connection with a case of assault.
A medical college team then conducted health examinations and collected blood samples of all inmates, he said.
“The preliminary HIV screening reports of seven transgender inmates have come back positive. As a precautionary measure, they have been kept in a separate barrack,” Dwivedi said.
He said the screening test reports have been sent to the government. Fresh samples have also been sent for confirmatory testing, but the final reports are awaited, he added. (PTI)
