Mumbai Police come to the rescue of an LGBT youth beaten up, molested by six men

It was a dark day for human rights on 11 October when a member of the LGBT community in Mumbai was brutally beaten up and molested by six men. The victim, Divyaroop Ananda, wrote about the incident on his blog. The assault took place when he had gone to an LGBT event five minutes away from his home. [caption id=“attachment_2489346” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] “On my way back, a drunk guy from the chawls bumped into me with wrong intentions and he touched my penis. Because of my natural instincts, I slapped that guy,” Divyaroop had written in his blog, which he also shared on Facebook. “Next thing I know is, bunch of guys were pulling my hair, kicking me on my balls, punching me on my nose, face, hitting me with the stool, bamboo sticks. My clothes were torn in the middle of the road. I was sexually abused and thrashed. I was called hijra, chhakka (a derogatory term for hijras) and what not. I have scars all over my body and I’m internally injured,” he had written. There is a silver lining, however, to this horrific story. When Divyaroop, along with LGBT NGO ‘Humsafar Trust’ member Sonal Giani, went to the police to file a complaint, the police officials eagerly assisted them and helped Divyaroop file a police complaint, according to BuzzFeed. “The police have been quite supportive through this entire matter,” the report quoted Giani as saying. After a few days, the police told Divyaroop that they had the men who attacked him in custody. “I am glad to see the faces of the culprits in the lock up and the policeman is so friendly and cooperative,” Divyaroop wrote in a Facebook post.