Kasaragod: A 39-year-old transgender woman has accused the Kasaragod Police of watering down the charges against her brother, a serial offender, and his friend, which she said helped them secure bail despite allegedly vandalising her rented house and sexually assaulting her.
In a complaint to District Police Chief Nidhinraj P, she alleged that the police went soft on her brother, even though he was earlier arrested under the Kerala Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, because she was a transgender woman.
She urged the officer to invoke charges including attempt to murder and attempted rape and move the court for cancellation of their bail.
“I was denied justice because I am a transgender woman,” Parvathi said on Friday, after being discharged following four days of treatment at the District Hospital in Kanhangad.
Parvathi, who works as a home nurse, said her brother Manu and his friend, whom she could not identify, barged into her house around 2 pm on September 7, demanding money. She alleged that Manu hit her on the head with an iron rod, causing multiple injuries.
According to the FIR, Manu hit her with an iron rod and tore her clothes to humiliate her, while the second accused climbed on top of her and assaulted her sexually. The FIR also said the accused vandalised the house, causing an estimated loss of ₹25,000.
She told the District Police Chief that the assault was far more serious. Manu pressed a garden knife against the back of her neck, threatened to kill her and repeatedly hit her with the rod he brought along. He held her pinned to the ground, while his friend assaulted her sexually, she alleged, stating that she managed to free herself and ran out of the house.
Parvathi, who had alerted friends from the transgender community when she saw her brother approaching her house, said they managed to reach by the time she ran out of the house. They then called the police, who arrived and took the accused away.
Her friends took her to the District Hospital, where she was admitted to the ICU. The police, she alleged, did not go to the hospital to take her statement. She went to the police station around 8 pm, gave her statement and then returned to the hospital, she added, also alleging that the FIR registered based on her statement did not accurately reflect what she told the police.
“It is deeply painful to learn that the police were trying to protect an accused who had earlier been arrested under KAAPA. I believe I was discriminated against because I am a transgender woman,” she said in the complaint.
She alleged that the two accused were arrested around 2 pm on September 7 but were produced before the court only after 24 hours. The delay, coupled with the absence of the more serious charges, helped them obtain bail, she said.
The case was registered under Sections 333 (house-trespass after preparation for causing hurt, assault or wrongful restraint), 126(2) (wrongful restraint), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 118(1) (voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt with dangerous weapons), 74 (assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 351(2) (criminal intimidation) and 324(2) (mischief), read with Section 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Police also invoked Section 18(d) of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, which deals with causing harm, injury or endangering the life, safety, health or well-being of a transgender person, including physical and sexual abuse. The maximum punishment among the offences invoked in the FIR is seven years under BNS Section 333.
‘I fear losing the house too’
For Parvathi, the alleged attack also raised fears of losing her house. She said finding a house on rent was particularly hard for transgender people and that she had secured the rented accommodation only after considerable difficulty. She had moved into the house because of problems involving her brother and had been living there alone. She now feared that she could be evicted from the house because of the attack and vandalism.
When contacted, District Police Chief Nidhinraj said the FIR reflected all the offences mentioned in Parvathi’s initial statement. “The complaint was against her brother, who has several cases against him. We verified the allegations and invoked all the applicable sections mentioned in her statement. The remaining aspects will emerge as part of the investigation,” he said.
