Delhi: After Transgenders ‘Brutally Assaulted’ by Cops, Activist Demands an FIR

New Delhi: Friday's incident of an alleged assault by cops on transgender people has brought to the fore the insecurity faced by the marginalised community in the national capital, a transgender activist told NewsClick.

The "so-called justification" given by the Delhi Police to use force against transgender people is not enough, and an FIR must get registered against police personnel involved in "brutally assaulting and sexually harassing the inmates" of the Mitr Trust-run shelter home, Rudrani Chhetri, founder of the Trust said on Saturday.

A trans person, hailing from Uttar Pradesh, was forcibly picked up from a government-supported shelter home, Garima Greh, at South West Delhi’s Sitapuri in the wee hours of Friday, news agency PTI reported.

Garima Grehs are the shelter home for transgender persons supported by the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to provide basic amenities like shelter, food, medical care, and recreational facilities.

According to Chhetri, at around 12:30 midnight, four police personnel came to the premises of Mitr Trust - run by Garima Greh and asked us to hand over one Aditya Baisoya. "Then four inmates of the shelter home followed the police van and then went to the Dabri police station where when asked about Aditya, the police there started abusing our inmates, '' she said.

The police personnel at Dabri police station "brutally assaulted and sexually harassed the inmates," she further alleged on Saturday. Some police personnel "started touching and grabbing the private parts of these inmates," she added.

A 10-min long live stream of the incident, which also went viral on Friday, showed several injured people sitting in what appeared to be hospital reception. In the livestream, Chhetri can also be seen as making similar allegations.

On the other hand, following transgender people's allegations, the Delhi Police claimed that a team of Uttar Pradesh Police from Badalpur police station, Gautam Budh Nagar came to Dabri police station and sought local assistance in a missing complaint lodged with them.

“They went to Garima Greh in Sitapuri and later left with the alleged victim in the missing complaint. Later, six to seven transgender persons came to the police station demanding to meet the person who had left with the UP Police team,” news agency PTI reported Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka) M Harsha Vardhan as saying.

They were told that the matter relates to UP Police, and Dabri police station has just provided assistance, the DCP said. "They became aggressive and obstructed police personnel on duty at the police station. Some of them also removed their clothes and started using very abusive language. Minimal force was used to disperse them," Vardhan said, adding the police are sensitive to the concerns of transgender people.

"I have asked my officers to engage them in constructive dialogue and make them understand that they should not take the law into their hands. We are working with them to allay their concerns,” the DCP said.

However, on Saturday, Chhetri of Mitr Trust sought to counter the Delhi Police's "so-called justification" to use force against transgender people, as she referred to the DCP's comments over the incident and said that it is not enough.

"Had proper procedures were followed by the Delhi Police, the matter, in the very first place, wouldn't have escalated to this point," Chhetri remarked on Saturday. Calling it an "abduction" of Aditya, she added that the Mitr Trust had filed a complaint to DCP, South West Delhi district.

In the complaint, a copy of which was accessed by NewsClick, it was demanded that an FIR must be registered against police personnel who were involved in the incident. No FIR as yet has been registered in the matter, according to Chhetri.

"Friday's incident only shows that transgender people - who have been marginalised for many years now - continue to remain insecure in the national capital," Chhetri lamented. She demanded that security to the Mitr Trust-run shelter home must be provided.

With inputs from news agency PTI.