Tamil Nadu: Two men arrested for attacking transgender women, chopping off hair

A video of the incident at the Kazhugumalai village near Kovilpatti was shared by transgender rights activist Grace Banu, who urged the police to take immediate action against the ‘goons’.

The nearly 19-second clip shows a man chopping off the hair of one of the transgender women using a blade and later throwing it away. He is heard using obscene words and claiming that transgender women have been cheating people. One of the transgender women was also seen with a bruised eye in the video.

Couple of trans women attacked by this goons @tnpoliceoffl @CityTirunelveli @TUTICORINPOLICE @sivagangapolice @mducollector @maduraipolice .Break your silence pic.twitter.com/HHwGuTJtI2

— GRACE BANU (@thirunangai) October 12, 2022

Banu told indianexpress.com, “Every day our community members face discrimination. This incident is another example. The video showed how brutally these two trans women were attacked. I have been saying this for a long time, the transgenders in villages face more threats than those in other metropolitan cities. Our organisation, Trans Rights Now Collective, is working towards providing them more security.”

Banu said the two transgender women had gone begging on October 7 when they were intercepted by the men and taken to a forest where they were brutally attacked.

“The men even took their money. The trans women were beaten so badly that they had to go to a hospital for treatment. These men had followed them and threatened them not to lodge any complaint or else they would kill them. They even threatened these transgender women’s families. In fear of these men, who frequently abuse and threaten the transgenders in their locality, both victims came to Chennai to seek assistance. They are mentally disturbed. We are providing counselling and other required help for them, ” Banu said.