Trans woman strangled to death in India
A transgender woman was strangled to death in India, police have confirmed.
28-year-old Gowri was found near the Aluva Railway Station last week.
Her death was treated as suspicious and police have now confirmed that she had marks on her neck and was strangled to death.
A police officer told the Indian Express: “An inquiry is on and a few have been questioned in this regard”.
The body has been kept at a nearby hospital as authorities have been unable to find relatives of the victim.
But the trans community in Aluva has said they will accept the body.
“The victim is a native of Tamil Nadu and we couldn’t trace the relatives,” the police officer added.
“If the District Collector directs us to handover the body to the community leaders we have no objection,”
Police suspect that rope was used to strangle the woman who was covered with an asbestos sheet after her death.
She had been working as a construction labourer for several years in Aluva.
The state of Tamil Nadu has a well-deserved progressive reputation, having appointed the first trans police officer last year and seen the first trans woman to run for a seat in parliament in 2014.
In 2009, Tamil Nadu organised the country’s first ever pride parade, while a news network in the state appointed the first trans news anchor in India in 2014.
The state also hosted the first genderqueer pride parade in Asia in 2012, and built toilets for its trans citizens in 2009.
Earlier this year, the Indian government passed a “historic” law ensuring equal rights for people with HIV or AIDS.
And a university made all its courses free for transgender students, to “keep them from homelessness”.
