A group of four trans persons was brutally assaulted by a mob of around 40 people in Tripura's Agartala on the night of Friday, 7 October.
The incident occurred at a Durga Puja carnival at the Agartala City Centre.
What Happened?
As per Sneha Gupta Roy, the president of Swabhiman, an NGO that works for the rights of the transgender and LGBTQ communities in Tripura, the trans persons were assaulted after they spoke up against the derogatory terms used against them by other attendees of the event.
"They were manhandled, insulted, and abused just because they tried to raise their voice against the insulting words used for them by a group of women when they went to participate in the Durga Puja carnival held on Friday," Roy was quoted as saying by Eastmojo.
A verbal confrontation between the two groups led to a physical altercation, wherein the four people from the transgender community were overpowered by the crowd and beaten up.
Videos from the incident showed members of the crowd pulling a trans person by their hair, as others from the mob filmed the incident and cheered on the assaulters.
In another video, a woman can be seen beating the same trans person with a sandal, after which the person who is being assaulted and two of their friends can be seen retreating to the women's restroom.
What Action Has Been Taken?
"We have lodged an FIR with the West Agartala Police Station in connection with the case," Sneha Roy said. One of the women who led the attack has been identified as Dipa Das, she added.
National secretary of the Congress party, Szarita Laitphlang, condemned the incident. "Shameful that transgender Durga Puja devotees in Agartala were first heckled & then assaulted in full public view. The goddess does not discriminate between her worshippers. Who are we to do so?" she tweeted.
In January this year, four transgender persons were allegedly forced by personnel from the Tripura Police to strip in order to prove their identity. They were also allegedly made to write an undertaking that they would never cross-dress, and that if they are found in such attires anywhere in the city, they could be arrested.
(With inputs from Eastmojo.)
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