Latika Samaddar’s husband, Ratan, (all names have been changed) pulls a rickshaw in New Delhi railway station while she stays in the village Malda in West Bengal, looking after their two daughters aged 8 and 6. Ratan takes a break and comes home every four months and stays for three weeks. Usually healthy, Latika has lately had a nagging flu. A blood test, prescribed by a doctor who suspected malaria, came as a shock—Latika was infected with HIV.

The doctor asked her whether she had ever had a blood transfusion or was involved in unsafe sex with multiple partners. Latika, a devout housewife, told the doctor that she was completely dedicated to her husband. Latika, however, said that her husband never used a condom. After much questioning, Ratan told the doctor that he had visited sex workers in Delhi. He was diagnosed as having HIV a month before but had decided to keep quiet.