New Delhi, March 13 (PTI): India has an estimated 25 lakh gay population and about 7 per cent of them are HIV-infected, the government today told the Supreme Court.

“The population of MSM (men who have sex with men) is estimated to be 25 lakh in India,” the government said in its affidavit filed in the court, citing figures of the National Aids Control programme.

The affidavit, filed by the health ministry, said it is planning to bring 4 lakh high-risk MSM under its AIDS control programme and that it has already covered around 2 lakh of them.

It further said the estimated HIV prevalence among female sex workers and MSM is 4.60-4.94 per cent and 6.54 -7.23 per cent respectively. In case of injecting drug users, HIV is present in 9.42-10.30 per cent.

The affidavit was filed in compliance with the Supreme Court’s directive seeking detailed information on the number of homosexuals in the country and how many of them are HIV infected.