Until a month ago, four-year-old Bhairab (not his real name) went to a school in Assam like any other child his age, playing, studying and having a good time. 

Then, last year in December, the management of the private school in eastern Assam ruthlessly expelled Bhairab. His crime -- he was HIV-positive. 

The nightmare didn't end there for the family. Bhairab's parents, both HIV-positive, were also virtually ostracised by society. The young couple who ran a small business were shocked to find their regular customers looking the other way.

Although the couple tested HIV-positive five years ago, they had managed to keep it a secret. That is until a vernacular newspaper and a local television channel 'scooped' the news of the family afflicted with the killer virus.

Haunted by social stigma, the family was forced to shift to Assam's main city of Guwahati and is currently undergoing treatment at a city hospital.  Healthcare workers and rights activists are angry over the insensitive media that went for a sensational story pushing the family into deep distress and trauma.

"We are ashamed to find the media (the local newspaper and the TV news channel) so insensitive and irresponsible. It is not only unethical but libellous to have directly or indirectly identified the family for which they are suffering today," Jahnabi Goswami, a member of the Assam Network of Positive People (ANPP), told IANS.

Moving the Assam Human Rights Commission seeking justice on behalf of Bhairab and his parents Wednesday, ANPP holds the media responsible for the family's trauma.

"We want to know why the child was thrown out of school," said a ANPP member.

According to the school principal, several guardians threatened to take their children away from the school if Bhairab was allowed to continue his studies. 

"We were forced to dismiss Bhairab following pressure from other parents whose children were studying the school," a school management member said. 

Today, campaigners like Goswami are trying to drum up public opinion to create awareness about the disease.  "It is very unfortunate to find society so ignorant about HIV-AIDS. People should know that HIV does not spread just like that," Goswami said. 

Twenty-eight-year old Goswami has a personal reason for campaigning - she was infected with HIV by her husband soon after they married in 1994.  "In India, a majority of parents visit astrologers with horoscopes of the bride and the groom to find out if the couple will stay happy after marriage," said Goswami.

"But from my personal experience, instead of matching horoscopes, it would be wise if the couple go for a blood test to rule out being HIV-positive."

Goswami is one of the few women in India fighting to raise awareness of the disease and one of an even smaller number to have publicly declared that she is HIV-positive.