By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi : Kolkata is the most violent city for gay and bisexual men where 80 per cent reported facing violence of any kind, followed by Delhi where 72 per cent faced violence followed by Mumbai with 58 per cent, faced violence, according to a research report released here .
A research conducted by four academics shed light on the prevalence of violence against gay and bisexual men across six cities.
About 44 per cent of men sampled in Delhi said they faced sexual violence , making it the city with the highest prevalence of sexual violence against men who have sex with men.
A survey showing that 78 .7 per cent gay men and 44 per cent bisexual men have faced some sort of violence, be it verbal, physical or sexual violence, comes amid growing concerns about safety among the community, with the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita replacing the Indian Penal Code. Unlike the IPC, the BNS does not have a section dealing with rape of men or transgender persons.
The research published by BMC Public Health, conducted by Suraj Paul, Praveen Kumar Pathak, Margubur Rahman and Niharika Tripathi, sampled 300 self-identified gay and bisexual men in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Lucknow . The research concluded that violence against gay and bisexual men is a pervasive issue, particularly affecting individuals with lower education and low income. The results revealed that those aged 18-24 reported the most violence, and respondents who were open about their sexuality in public were five times more likely to face any violence than those who were not. It also showed that among those who fell under the general category, 48.8 per cent had reported facing violence, while this was much higher among those in the OBC category (84.1 per cent) and SC/ST category (71.6 per cent).
