Photo: The Stories of Change
| Photo: The Stories of Change
One Indian city is in uproar after trans women accused police of ongoing harassment including stripping them in public.
Trans women in the city of Mangaluru said they have been subjected to a six-week long campaign at the hands of local police. Mangaluru is one of the biggest cities in the south-west state, Karnataka, formerly known as Bangalore.
Police have allegedly stripped trans women naked in public, while home guards have allegedly pressured them into sexual favors.
It started on 31 May, when police forced Roopa (not her real name) and her friends to strip in public. Police told them to strip so they could figure out the women’s gender identity.
‘My friends and I were hanging out near a pub in the city around 10pm,’ Roopa told the Times of India.
‘Police, who arrived on the spot, abused us in foul language and later forced us to strip on the pretext of ascertaining our sexual identity.
‘We had to give in to their demand and remove our clothes in public.’
A home guard visited Roopa the next day and allegedly bashed her before demanding sexual favors.
Karnataka was doing so well, until now
Roopa’s story is just one of many reported since the end of May.
People in Mangaluru are outraged at the ongoing harassment of trans people. The trans people accused police management of covering up the harassment. But police said they have now taken action against all the accused officers.
The home guard who allegedly attacked Roopa was suspended but for different reasons.
‘We had received an oral complaint about his inappropriate behavior,’ Dr Muralee Mohan Choontharu, district command of home guards told TOI.
‘But the person refused to give a written complaint, hence we could not take action pertaining to the matter of allegedly demanding sexual favors from the transgender member.’
Karnataka is one of the leading states when it comes to adopting Federal Government trans rights Bill.
Since 2013 the state has offered trans people their own wards in state-run hospitals. It was also one of the first states to offer ration cards, voter IDs, and driving licenses for trans people.
The number of trans people on the electoral roll also went up more than 50% since 2013.
