India: no country for transgender women
Four women are raped every hour in India, recently named the world’s most dangerous place for women. And for transgender women, it’s even worse
Khushi, an Indian transgender woman, never thought that when she challenged a policeman who had grabbed her breast it would set off a series of events that would leave her seeking justice more than four years later.
During a pilgrimage to a Muslim shrine in Rajasthan state, she was arrested and brought to a police station where she was beaten and raped. Adding insult to her injuries, she had to beg authorities to register a complaint.
How a rape exposes the conflict between two visions of India
“India sees a furore every time there’s a rape case, but not for me – I wasn’t born a woman,” says Khushi, 30, who now lives in Mumbra, a city on the outskirts of Mumbai.
“When a transgender woman gets raped in this country, cops first mock her, saying she doesn’t have the organs to be sexually assaulted; and what follows is a barrage of injustices – perhaps greater than the first one.”
FOUR RAPES EVERY HOUR
According to the latest government figures, 170,000 women were raped between 2012 and 2016. That means an average of four women were sexually assaulted every hour over that span.