Of the 300 (men who have sex with men) MSM men surveyed, 37.4 per cent said they experienced sexual violence, 45.5 per cent experienced physical violence; 80 per cent were on the receiving end of verbal violence. The survey—Men at risk: Correlates of verbal, physical and sexual violence against MSM across selected cities in India—was released last week in collaboration with Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). It found that Kolkata ranked highest for verbal (72 per cent) and physical (46 per cent) abuse, while Delhi ranked highest for sexual violence (44 per cent).

A person who has seen violence up close is Jay. “The first incident was when I was in class five; the first day of senior school,” says 25-year-old Jay, who works in the entertainment industry. “Some seniors who were repeating a year were in our class, and they teased me about the way I walked. They would touch me, slap my chest, squeeze it, and make me dance in front of other schoolmates and seniors. A senior raped me, and one of these failed classmates taunted that it was mutual sex. Once, I slapped him and he punched me, smashed my face and called me names. It was humiliating, painful emotionally and physically.”