Transgender Killing: Community Threatens to Intensify Agitation
Image for representational use only.Image Courtesy : Manormaonline
Patna: Shocked and “deeply hurt” by the killing of a transgender person, locally known as kinnar, in Bihar’s Purnea district, the transgender community staged protests and has given an ultimatum to the police to nab the killers.
Two days after Muskan Kinnar, who was in her mid 40s, was shot dead in broad daylight by two motorcycle-borne criminals, hundreds from the transgender community staged protests on Wednesday and Thursday in Purnea, expressing their anger over the incident and demanded immediate arrest of the killers. The protesters had come from different parts of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. They represented different transgender organisations.
“We will not sit silently. Our protest will continue and if the police fail to nab the killers within next two days; we will take our fight for justice from Bihar to Delhi. We will intensify the agitation for justice to Muskan Kinnar,” said Soni Kinnar, a leader from the community.
Muskan’s close aide, Kajal Kinnar, told NewsClick that it is surprising that the police have failed to arrest the killers despite our protest. “This is the first time that a transgender was killed in Purnea, but the police are dealing with the case quite casually. We have met police IG Vinod Kumar and submitted a petition for justice by the way of arrest of the killers,” she said.
Another protester, Lakshmi Kinnar, said that the protesters want police action and not mere assurances. “Killing of Muskan Kinnar on Tuesday has exposed one thing clearly that transgender persons are not safe and secure in Bihar. We are visiting and roaming the streets day and night to earn livelihood by providing age-old traditional services and by performing rituals.”
A district police officer Jitendra Rana said that the police have been investigating the case and looking into the evidence with the help of CCTV footage from the site near Gulabbagh locality, where Muskan Kinnar was killed.
Purnea DSP (Sadar) A K Pandey said that the police have got some clues.
Opposition parties have extended support to the agitation by the transgender community. Opposition leaders have described the killing as an example of collapse of law and order in the state.
Get the latest reports & analysis with people's perspective on Protests, movements & deep analytical videos, discussions of the current affairs in your Telegram app. Subscribe to NewsClick's Telegram channel & get Real-Time updates on stories, as they get published on our website.
