Family’s disapproval pushes transgender to suicide?

Bangalore: Even as the sexual minority community in the city sang, danced and shouted slogans to encourage people to be comfortable and open about their sexuality and to create awareness among the public and families of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders on Sunday, a 21-year-old transgender engineering student allegedly committed suicide in his home after being rebuked by his parents who saw him on television taking part in the Pride Rally.

The victim, identified as Vamshi Raju, was a resident of Yeshwanthpur near Mathikere and a final-year engineering student. “Raju danced openly at the Pride Rally on Sunday and it was aired on TV.

His family saw the visuals in the evening news, and a big fight broke out between the victim and his parents when he returned home from the rally on Sunday night. Unable to bear the rejection from his family, a depressed Raju committed suicide,” said human rights activist Manohar Elavarthi in a press release. 

The victim reportedly consumed poison in his room around 2.30 am and was found dead by his parents early on Monday morning. “It was not the first time that Raju’s family had such a fight. Even last week, he faced severe physical violence at the hands of his father and had to seek shelter in a transgender friend’s ho­use around 11 pm,” added Manohar.

“He was facing a lot of harassment from his family for more than a year. His family did not want him to keep in touch with other members of the sexual minority community. They had even stopped him from going to college for the last two months,” he said.

Though Raju normally dressed in slacks and a shirt, he was said to be open about his identity and used to dress in a sari occasionally. Deputy Com­m­issioner of Police (North) Sandeep Patil told Deccan Chronicle, “He has left a death note, stating that he was taking the extreme step because he felt he was “unable to be a good son; and that his academics were not up to the mark”.

He has not held anybody responsible for his death, but we are aware of media reports about his sexuality. Nothing pertaining to this was mentioned in his suicide note, but we are investigating the case from all angles.” A case of unnatural death has been registered by the Yesh­wan­th­pur police.