Indian laws still discriminate against people with leprosy

The Supreme Court has asked states and the central government to urgently identify and repeal all obsolete provisions that continue to contain discriminatory references to people with leprosy. According to the National Human Rights Commission, there are nearly 100 laws that limit the rights and access to services of even those who have been cured.

New Delhi (AsiaNews) - Although it has been a curable disease for decades, leprosy continues to be a legal mark of exclusion in India. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), which has been following the issue since 2021, recently published a report noting that 97 state and federal laws still contain discriminatory references.

On the basis of this document, the Supreme Court has asked the Indian states and central government to quickly identify and repeal all obsolete provisions, inviting them to follow the recommendations proposed by the NHRC, including, for example, the use of iris scanning for registration with Aadhaar (which provides a personal identification number), given that the disease can compromise fingerprints.

The Court returned to the issue following a class action lawsuit (or PIL, Public Interest Litigation) filed in 2010 by the Federation of Leprosy Organisations, which denounced the persistence of obsolete and discriminatory references in Indian legislation. Leprosy, once considered a highly contagious and incurable disease, had led to forced isolation measures, as provided for, for example, by the Indian Lepers Act of 1898, a law that has now been repealed.

Despite the introduction of Multi-Drug Therapy (MDT) in the 1980s and the full curability of the disease, many regulations have remained unchanged. India declared leprosy no longer a public health problem in 2005, yet people with leprosy are still excluded from public services, civil rights and employment opportunities. In July 2025, the Supreme Court called the persistence of these rules “embarrassing”, referring in particular to the (few) cases where leprosy is still listed as a ground for divorce. On the recommendation of Justices Surya Kant and N.K. Singh, the states and union territories had already been asked in May 2025 to set up committees to identify, within four weeks, the provisions still in force. At the end of July, after noting delays, the Court granted a further two-week extension and pointed out that legislative changes can also be made through ordinances or special sessions.

Furthermore, many of the rules still in force exclude people with leprosy from professional associations (as stated in the Nurses and Midwives Act of 1953) or from public transport, as provided for in the Indian Railways Act of 1989, which imposes restrictions on travellers with “infectious or contagious diseases” and requires the presentation of a mandatory medical certificate in cases of people with non-infectious leprosy. Or the Merchant Shipping Act of 1958 requires preventive health checks for pilgrims.

At the state level, the picture is not very different: in several jurisdictions, regulations remain in place that restrict access to professions, public employment or positions of trust for those who have had leprosy, often making everything conditional on the presentation of certificates of recovery. Mobility is not always free either: in some cities, such as Bangalore and Chennai, medical certificates are required to use the underground. In several states, including Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa, the disease continues to be a reason for ineligibility in local councils.

Some progress has been made by the central government, with the Personal Laws (Amendment) Act of 2019, for example, which removed the reference to leprosy as a cause for divorce in national marriage legislation. In 2015, the Law Commission presented the EDPAL Bill with the aim of removing discriminatory references in eight central laws and introducing new protections, but the text has not yet been approved by Parliament.

The Supreme Court has clarified that the revision of the rules is the responsibility of the government and legislative assemblies, calling for coordinated action. The states and territories of the Union must now submit detailed reports on the measures taken based on the NHRC's recommendations. The next hearing is scheduled for 17 December.

INDIAN MANDALA IS THE ASIANEWS NEWSLETTER DEDICATED TO INDIA. WOULD YOU LIKE TO RECEIVE IT EVERY FRIDAY? TO SUBSCRIBE, CLICK HERE.