On the morning of March 26, the third day of lockdown in India's capital over coronavirus fears, 15-year-old Himanshu's mother tried to board a state-run bus to collect her son's medicines for HIV from a government-run hospital.

It was her scheduled day to pick up the monthly anti-retroviral therapy (ART) drugs, the HIV-suppressing drug that has to be taken lifelong, provided free of charge to patients registered with government hospitals.

But with strict travel restrictions in place, the conductor did not allow her on the government-run bus, despite her furnishing the "green book" provided by the Kalawati Saran Children's hospital located in central New Delhi's Gole Market area.

Himanshu's father volunteered to go by bicycle to pick up the drugs instead, but a policeman stopped him and turned him back, as well.

"Sometimes, the Delhi police see your hospital book and let you go. But sometimes, they will see the word HIV and chase you," says Loon Gangte, co-ordinator of the Delhi Network of Positive People - a collective that works for people living with HIV.

"It is the term HIV. They think we are all sex workers and drug addicts. Yesterday [March 25], police beat up one of our outreach workers who was trying to organise. There is still prejudice even though it is now against the law to discriminate against persons with HIV."