Supreme Court notice on plea for blood donation by gay men, sex workers

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to the central government and others on a plea challenging rules that prevent blood donation by gay men, transgender persons and sex workers.

A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra sought a response from the Centre, National Blood Transfusion Council (NBTC), National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) and asked them to file their response.

On October 11, 2017, the NBTC and the NACO of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare notified Guidelines on Blood Donor Selection and Blood Donor Referral and these guidelines permanently restrain transgenders, female sex workers and LGBTQI persons from donating blood.

The top court was hearing a petition filed by one Sharif D Rangnekar, challenging the constitutional validity of Blood Donor rules of 2017.

Rangnekar said that the guidelines are based on a highly prejudicial and presumptive view taken with regard to gay men in the 1980s in the United States of America. Since then, many countries including the USA, the United Kingdom, Israel and Canada, amongst others have revisited their views, stated the plea.

From a scientific perspective, such a blanket restriction on blood donation is based on the assumption that a particular group of people may be suffering from sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), added the petition.

Requesting the apex court to pass appropriate orders on the issue, Rangnekar said, “Such a blanket prohibition is a violation of the right to equality, dignity and life protected under Articles 14, 15, 17 and 21 of the Constitution. Such guidelines violate the right to live with dignity, and do not afford full membership of living in a society to LGBTQ+ community and thus, reduces them to second class citizenship.”

It sought direction to the Centre to frame guidelines that allow gay and LGBTQI persons to donate blood, with reasonable restrictions based on “screen and defer or assess and test” policies. (ANI)

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