They had just come back from the funeral of Anannyah Kumari Alex, a 28-year-old trans woman who died by suicide in Kochi two days ago. Jiju alias Appu, her 32-year-old partner, waited to be alone in an apartment in Vytilla in Ernakulam before dying by suicide on the afternoon of July 23, Friday. The death is believed to have happened around 2 pm. Jiju was a native of Thiruvananthapuram.
“Jiju was staying with Anannyah in Edappally before. After her death, her apartment was sealed and Jiju moved to his friends’ place in Vytilla. On Friday afternoon, all of us came back from Anannyah’s funeral by 12.30 – 1 pm. We had asked him to stay at Renjuma’s (Renju Renjimar, a transgender activist) place, but he said he wanted to go to Kollam the next day to attend prayers conducted by the church in Anannyah’s native place. He then took off to his friend’s apartment in Vytilla,” says a trans activist - a friend of the couple's - who is at the location.
Shortly after reaching the Vytilla apartment, Jiju apparently sent his friends out to buy something. It was at the time that he reportedly died by suicide.
The deaths coming so close together is really distressing, says Prijith, founder of Queerythm, a community-based organisation for LGBTQIA+ people. Queer community members have been protesting against the hospital in Kochi where Anannyah had a gender affirmation surgery that allegedly went wrong.
A little before her death, Anannyah, a radio jockey and model, had told The Cue in an interview about her surgery and the physical pain she had to endure following it. The queer community believes that it was the struggle she went through that led to her suicide. They, along with Anannyah’s father, protested against the hospital – Renai Medicity – and Dr Arjun Asokan, who did the surgery. Kerala Health Minister Veena George had ordered a probe into Anannyah’s death on Wednesday.