Transgenders Besiege Police Station Over 'Sex Torture' Spin to Murder

Around 50 transgenders besieged the Tiruvotriyur police station on Wednesday condemning reports published in some Tamil newspapers that a transgender was killed by a man unable to bear ‘sexual torture’ from the victim.

The transgenders said the news reports were highly misleading and alleged that the police had given false information to the press, defaming the victim.

“She was leading a decent life, cooking and selling biriyani, and provided employment to at least four other transgenders. It was completely irresponsible to report the incident based entirely on the version of the accused,” said Jaya of Sagodharan, an NGO working for transgenders’ rights.

The news reports pertain to the alleged killing of Jamila, a transgender residing in Tiruvottriyur, on Tuesday morning by one Arockiaraj, who was well known to the victim. Arockiaraj initially told the police that he killed Jamila as she “subjected him to sexual torture”. But on Wednesday the Tiruvottriyur police found that the actual motive could have been to loot the gold jewellery that Jamila kept in her house. An investigating officer confirmed that a sizeable number of Jamila’s jewellery was missing after her death.

“We are in the process of recovering the jewellery from the accused and are investigating to ascertain the real motive,” said an investigating officer.

Pointing to the fact that the police too have confirmed the stolen jewellery, the transgenders protesting in the police station asserted that the information carried in the newspapers about Jamila’s character was totally false.

“Such false reports create a bad image for us and seriously affect our employment and livelihood. The news reports also carried the name Jamila had before she realised her feminine sexuality. This we feel is highly insulting to her dignity,” said a transgender. They dispersed after police officers assured them there would be a thorough investigation and the accused would be brought to book.