Despite an AIDS outbreak in Maharashtra's jails, the state government here is reluctant to distribute condoms among the inmates like in other countries.

State government officials here fear that the distribution of condoms in jails would amount to condoning homosexuality, which is an offence under Indian law.

However, the death of 18 inmates in Mumbai's Arthur Road Jail has prompted the government to order all the state's estimated 25,000 prisoners to be tested for the virus, according to officials here.

Reports here say that 18 out of 27 jail inmates who died in the last six months at the jail had contracted the virus.

Officials said the tests would not be compulsory and inmates, undertrials and convicts would be counselled to undergo testing. Prisoners found to have contracted HIV would be segregated and special health care facilities would be provided to them.

It is still not clear how many inmates have been identified as suffering from AIDS. With no records available at the state level, officials guess the number to be around 150.

According to human rights organisations, homosexuality is common in Maharashtra's crowded jails though inmates do not lodge complaints in case of rapes.

The Arthur Road Central Jail, built to hold 820 inmates, holds more than 3,400 people.

The People's Union for Civil Liberties has already filed a public interest litigation petition about the overcrowded conditions in the jail.

--Indo-Asian News Service