To,
The Director General of Police,
Telangana State.
To,
Commissioner of Police,
Cyberabad Commissionerate.
Sub: Apathy of Police towards transgender community safety – murder of a Transgender person – action requested.
Sir,
A Transgender Woman by name Sheela was murdered in the early hours of 12th July 2024 in Sanath Nagar Police Station jurisdiction. This is one among several murders of Transgender persons in the recent past.
We would like to bring to your notice that various groups that are working for the welfare of the Transgender Community along with members of Telangana State Welfare Board for Transgender, established by Government of Telangana have submitted a detailed com-plaint to Additional Director General of Police, Women’s Safety Wing, Telangana State on 4th November 2023. In this complaint, the names of a few individuals who had formed into a Gang and were regularly assaulting Transgender persons was mentioned. The complaint also contained the brief reports of various incidents of assaults by this gang of individuals at several places. Unfortunately, the police have so far failed to initiate any concrete action in the matter.
We suspect that this same Gang might be involved in the July 12th killing of Sheela. We request you to not to confine the incident to one of murder but to also apply relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita in respect of Hate Crime.
We urge you to also look into whether any action was initiated regarding the letter submitted to Additional Director of Police, Women’s Safety Wing, Telangana State. Perhaps Sheela’s murder would not have happened if the complaint by the Transgender groups was taken seriously.
We also request you to launch a campaign to educate citizens on Transgender Community issues, so that the misconceptions and phobia towards the Transgender Community is eradicated.
The Human Rights Forum [HRF] is a citizens’ initiative that has been working for the past 25 years to spread a human rights culture in society.
Thanking you,
S. Jeevan Kumar, Coordination Committee Member.
Sanjeev, General Secretary, Hyderabad Unit.
Date: 13-7-2024.