Thiruvananthapuram: Transgender couple faces death threats after marriage news

Thiruvananthapuram: The question repeats. Many times, as Sukanyeah Krishna tries to tell her story. What did they do wrong? Only days ago, the news of her wedding plans with Aarav Appukuttan was celebrated in the media, and everyone began sharing it on the social media.

And why not; it had everything the media would love — a male to female transgender, Sukanyeah, falling in love with a female to male transgender, Aarav.
But the congratulatory messages came only from the mediapersons who called for interviews. Then the nice comments they got on social media changed overnight to threats. “Threats saying they will kill us both...and abuses not just for us, but for the people who said good things about us,” Sukanyeah says, over phone from Bengaluru, where they are both based. She finds it safer there; people do not stop to stare at them or interfere in their lives. They are left alone with their choices.

All the attack appears to come from the bias against the transgender community. They haven’t, for instance, been ridiculed for reasons like their huge age difference – she is 21, he is 46. “That is our choice, not for anyone else to have a say. We just want to live our lives quietly, without coming into any controversy,” she says. But he has already lost his job in Dubai after they knew about his sex-change surgery. She is working in the IT industry.

The couple have registered complaints at the cyber crime cell in Bengaluru and in Kottayam. “We could only complain about the death threats – there are seven of them. All the other abuse, all the cuss words, will not be taken into account. I have also tried to report it to Facebook many times, but the response has been unsatisfactory,” Sukanyeah adds.

At first, the attacks came from fake profiles, which they didn’t take seriously. But later it grew in number and abusive comments came from real profiles too. “Comments like we should name our child ‘Nayanthara’.” They were also accused of using the publicity to raise funds.

“We did not go to any media with our story. It is when the doctor who treats us both, said a friend wants to interview us that we gave the first one. And then others called us. Now we are avoiding interviews. We just want to live quietly.”