Tw: Mentions of violence, transphobia
The ignorance of certain police officers about transgender identities and associated socio-cultural realities has led to the arrest of 19 people in Hyderabad, who have been accused of being ‘fake transgender women’, with charges of extortion slapped on them for begging on the streets of the city. It’s to be noted that a transgender person is someone whose gender identity does not align with the sex they were assigned at birth — for instance, if a person was assigned ‘male’ in their birth certificate but their gender identity is that of a woman, they are a transgender woman. A transgender identity is also not the same as an intersex identity. An intersex person is someone who has innate sex characteristics that do not fit medical and social norms for female or male bodies.
At a press conference held on August 19, Chandana Deepti IPS, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) for Hyderabad North Zone, had announced that 19 people “pretending to be transgender persons and extorting money” were arrested as part of a suo motu crackdown on a “begging racket” in the city. On a subsequent phone call with TNM, DCP Chandana said that out of the 19 people, they “suspect” two are trans persons because they have undergone gender affirmation surgeries. “The rest of them have confessed that they are males. They were disguised as women to make people believe that they are transgender. That’s how they were extorting (money from people),” she told TNM, adding that the police had also sent them for medical examination to determine whether they are trans persons or not.
Among the charges slapped against those arrested are Sections 419 (cheating by personation) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), on the basis that they are “able-bodied biological males” who are “impersonating women and transgender (persons).” The DCP also said a total of around Rs 12,000 and some phones have been seized from the 19 people, adding that this crackdown will continue in the city until there is an “end to this menace.”
Speaking to TNM, noted transgender rights activist Rachana Mudraboyina alleged that the police team's actions against the 19 trans persons were blatantly unconstitutional, and in complete violation of both the 2014 NALSA judgement and the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019. It may be noted that the Transgender Persons Act explicitly states that a trans person shall have the right to self-perceived gender identity, irrespective of whether they have undergone gender affirming surgeries or other medical interventions. This means a mere medical examination cannot determine whether a person is trans or not.
Over the phone, the officer also said that trans persons are people with “biological deformities”, do not have “fully developed (genital) organs”, and/or are “not of any particular gender”, and have a “tendency of dressing up like women.”
But as social activist Meera Sanghamitra pointed out to TNM, it is deeply problematic to identify a person’s gender based on their biological organs, as it goes against the grain of what it means to be a trans person. “A lot of trans persons continue to have sexual organs which have been there since birth. That does not in any way make them less of a trans person. Your genitals are different from what gender you self-identify with,” she said.
The officer is also confusing trans persons with intersex persons, Meera said. “These are two very different categories. Some trans persons can be intersex persons and vice versa. But all intersex persons are not transgender persons, neither are all trans persons intersex.”
A group of civil rights activists, meanwhile, have submitted a representation to the Telangana State Legal Services Authority (SLSA), alleging that the trans women were picked up, taken to the police stations where they were stripped, and then forced into “male clothes” bought with the money taken from them. Photographs of the arrested trans women wearing shirts and T-shirts have been circulating on social media over the past few days.
Simran, a trans woman based in Hyderabad who has been working to avail bail for the arrested persons, alleged that violence was inflicted upon them to force them to confess that they are “biologically male.” “When I met the (arrested persons) at the police station, they told me the police personnel harassed them a lot, insulting and abusing them, before forcing them to change their clothes into what men wear,” Simran said.
Activist and political theorist A Suneetha told TNM that in the representation they submitted to SLSA, they have sought immediate redressal for the custodial violence inflicted upon trans women who were begging at various traffic junctions in the city of Hyderabad. The representation demanded that the hijras and trans persons who were arrested be immediately released and the cases be withdrawn, and that stringent action be taken against the police officials who acted in violation of the law and human rights of the trans people and committed custodial violence. The activists also stated that this “violation was taken further when the police officers” claimed that “they did it to distinguish between ‘true’ and ‘false’ trans people.”
“The police personnel apparently examined the private parts of these trans women and decided that they were male. We also learnt that many hijra gurus were summoned to the police stations and warned not to house these ‘false’ trans persons in their houses. And then they were sent to police custody after filing cases against them,” the activists alleged.
Stating that transness is not something that can be determined by examining the genitals, which in itself is a violation of dignity, privacy, and humanity of any person, the representation also highlighted how trans people are highly discriminated against by families, schools, colleges, on the roads, and all workplaces. “It is the society’s inability to accept them that leads them to beg on the roads.”
Meera told TNM that the primary issues here are of the legal right to self-identity, and an acute crisis of secure livelihoods. “State police can't criminalise vulnerable citizens this way, arbitrarily, and see this as a 'law and order' issue,” she said.
On the phone call, DCP Chandana also claimed to TNM that to determine if someone is transgender, they have to “talk to them to the edge.” “For example, which toilets do you use – male or female toilets? You have to ask them all sorts of such questions,” she said.
Meera. however, stated that such statements revealed how senior officers are not given adequate training on what the law and its provisions are with regard to the rights of trans persons. It is important to note that access to public toilets is a much larger concern that can far from be considered a determiner for a person’s gender. Though gender activists have long argued that trans persons should be allowed to use the toilet that best matches their gender identity, general lack of awareness and systemic transphobia have led to the creation of a hostile environment against trans persons, with many even falling victim to violent crimes simply for using public bathrooms. India’s administrative and judicial systems are only gradually taking steps towards creating an inclusive environment in this regard, with measures such as the recent installation of gender neutral restrooms on the Supreme Court premises inviting appreciation.
“Subjective realities such as what toilet one uses can never be a ground to determine someone's gender. It depends on various factors such as comfort and, importantly, accessibility. To use this as a ground to decide someone's gender, and to determine their guilt under criminal law based on that, is extremely problematic," Meera said.
In their representation, the activists also pointed out how the police department has been conducting awareness and training sessions on these issues of late, which has been heartily welcomed by trans communities. “We had hoped that these sessions would have enabled the officials in the department about the body-mind disconnect in the trans people’s lives. It is very disturbing that, despite the campaign for 'friendly policing', Telangana police has been consistently resorting to the violation of the dignity of women, especially those from the marginalised castes/communities and genders hijra/ trans women which is bringing shame to the government and the state,” they added.
Rachana recalled the murder of a transgender woman named Pravallika in 2015 in Telangana, during the investigation into which some police personnel had stripped a Hijra woman at the station. “After intense protests by the Telangana Hijra Intersex Transgender Samiti, the Cyberabad police finally took departmental action against the policemen who denuded our Hijra sister,” she said, adding that the incident had eventually paved the path to the formation of the Transgender Welfare Board in Telangana. “It is unfortunate and deeply disturbing that nearly nine years later, such transphobia still prevails among police personnel,” she said.
Meera said if the police had concerns about someone’s identity, the right thing to do was to inform them about the provisions of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act and assist them, along with the SLSA, to get their necessary transgender ID cards. “The police are not a competent authority to determine the ‘fakeness’ of any person’s gender, much less in violation of law. They should have at least referred the matter to the Transgender Welfare Board. The police have acted contrary to law and need to be held accountable for their actions,” she said.