Thrissur: Transgenders decry police atrocities

Thiruvananthapuram: There has been no action in the case of police officials allegedly assaulting three transgender persons in Thrissur on March 18, and that, according to transgender activists, is no isolated incident. There are several other cases of the police assault on transgender persons, on which no action has been taken.  “Last year, in Ernakulam there was a police assault on TG persons. The case file was eventually closed. We hear about transgender persons getting arrested and released at night. In these cases, usually police submits reports in favour of the errant officials,” says activist Anil Arjunan of Chilla.

In the Thrissur incident, the police had reportedly caned three male-to-female transgender persons without provocation around 11.30 pm, near Thrissur KSRTC bus stand.  Complaints were submitted to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and DGP Loknath Behera, but now months have passed. When the outgoing Thrissur commissioner Narayanan T. was asked about the status of the case, he said ACP P. Vahid would know the details.  Mr Vahid said that he had submitted a report to the commissioner. Neither commented on any action taken.

There needs to be a protocol to arrest transgender persons, according to Anil.  “Will the rules for women apply to transwomen as well? Should transgender people be arrested at night? Can male police officers arrest them? The protocol needs to be defined. Two years ago, former gender advisor Geetha Gopal, former social justice director V. N. Jithendran and I had chalked out a set of guidelines regarding arresting TG. However the government order in connection with this is still in the making,” he says.