A teen was forced to have sex with his mother to ‘cure’ him of being gay, a LGBTI rights group in India has said.

The LGBT Collective in Telangana, southern India, has warned there are more reports coming out of ‘corrective rapes’ being carried out among the victim’s own family members.

So desperate to ensure the victim is straight, they will handpick a family member – often a cousin – to carry out the act.

But in one shocking case, they have said a gay teen was forced to have sex with his mother to ‘cure’ him of his sexuality.

A LGBT Collective spokesperson has said the horrific crimes are so traumatising for the victims, they often go unreported.

The group say they have had at least 15 ‘corrective rapes’ reported to them in the last five years.

‘We are sure there are many more cases, but they go unreported,’ Vyjayanti Mogli, a member of the group, told the Times of India.

‘We came across such cases not because they reported the rape, but because they sought help to flee their homes.’

‘It’s usually a cousin who’s roped in for this "project".

Mogli said there are many cases in southern India where a girl may have been promised to one of her cousins at birth. If she is in a relationship with another girl, the elders of the family bring in the cousin she would have married, and forcibly attempt to ‘cure’ her of her sexuality.

In many areas of India, homosexuality is not only taboo but expressly forbidden. While it is easier in cities, gay sex is still punishable with up to 10 years in jail.

The Supreme Court reimposed the colonial law that banned gay sex in late 2013, making millions of lives illegal with a single ruling.