Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
BBC News - October 2, 2006
Rajeev Khanna, Ahmedabad
Held in the city of Surat, the event was attended by 45 men and 15 women.
The organisers of the event said it was an attempt to end the isolation of those infected by the HIV virus.
More than five million Indians are infected with HIV and the UN says India now has more people with the virus than any other country in the world.
Daksha Patel of Gujarat State Network for People living with HIV/Aids, who runs India's first marriage bureau for HIV positive people, says all the HIV positive women who came in search of a life partner were widows below the age of 25 and the men were in their mid-30s.
Worse for women
"The idea is to help those suffering from HIV-Aids lead a normal social life," she says.
"Unmarried men of marriageable age who are HIV positive are under pressure from their families and friends to get married but it is difficult for them to reveal their status as there is no guarantee that they will be accepted," she adds.
And, it is worse for women.
Ms Patel says: "For these young widows, some of whom have children too, it is very difficult to cope with the constraints of life. They are in need of both social and economic security."
Ms Patel says it is better that "an HIV positive person marries another infected person because if one of the partners is HIV negative, there are chances of his or her also getting infected".
In Surat, more than 2,500 people have tested positive for HIV.
The city of four million people is the headquarters of India's diamond cutting and polishing industry and has a large population of migrant workers. The marriage bureau has a steadily increasing membership, but it is faced with a problem.
The bride-seekers out-number bridegroom-seekers almost 10 to one.
In India, few women can afford to come in the open about their HIV status, because of the stigma attached to Aids.
Daksha is full of praise for the women who have come forward and registered with the bureau.
A lot of NGOs say they see India as an Aids ticking time bomb.
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