When Arif* was released from a prison in western India on 31 March, he longed to return home quickly.

But over the next fortnight, he was hounded out three times in two cities - from his own home and then that of a fellow inmate - before landing up in a shelter for the homeless. He fled, tried to return home again, and is now quarantined in a friend's house.

Arif's heart-rending story underlines the trauma and stigmatisation staring at many Indian prisoners who have been freed in the middle of the country's grinding lockdown to stop the spread of the coronavirus.