Scattered and unconfirmed details, but from friends, I hear that in Bangalore:
Five hijras were arrested Monday for 'extortion.'
When five other hijra/kothi (members of a local sexuality rights group?) went to the thana to intervene, they were arrested for 'rioting', 'unlawful assembly' and 'assaulting a police officer.'
When at least 31 other activists from a local sexuality rights group went down to see what was going on and to help, they were detained/arrested and faced physical violence (I don't know one way or the other if the two contingents listed above did...but...in the absence of other information, given the charges and the nature of policing, you take your best guess as I will mine).
31 people altogether were kept in a small police van for 7 hours and not allowed to leave while the police tried to move them without habeas corpusing them despite that activists/lawyers were trying to block the van from moving without the people being produced. They were taken to the magistrate's house where the judge recorded the details of physical violence against them and otherwise testified. Then they were taken to the hospital.
At 5 a.m. the police told observers that they were going to take them back to the police station but instead took them back to the judge's house, but were not let out of the van there. Then they were taken to a different police station outside Bangalore where they didn't have space to lie down and had to sit up all night.
Altogether 41 people were awaiting a bail hearing at 11 a.m. on Tuesday.
Will try to keep you updated if I hear anything else.
Comments
Hijras need to be integrated
Hijras need to be integrated into our mainstream society. As it stands now they are forced to barge into peoples homes and demand money for dancing. I'm not surprised cries of "extortion" are bellowing throughout. That's what it feels like when they are harrassing you for money. It's a societal issue and there has to be a way that they can be educated and given good jobs.