Navdeep says that the excesses on the transgender community by the police is unchecked. “If a transgender wants to complain to the police about intimate partner violence, the police will try and book us under section 377 instead,” he said.
When a friend was brutally murdered in Hyderabad a few months ago, transgender activist Navdeep and his friends went to the police to lodge a complaint. The police, grudgingly, filed a FIR. The next day, a few of the policemen picked up a transgender from the same locality and locked him up. “They stripped him and took away his clothes, asking him what gender was the whole night,” says Navdeep. "It's as if the masculinity of the police is threatened by our presence. The send us lewd messages, and tell me that because I wear a sari, I am bringing it upon myself."
Navdeep says that the excesses on the transgender community by the police is unchecked. “If a transgender wants to complain to the police about intimate partner violence, the police will try and book us under section 377 instead,” he said. Transgenders are not the only sexually vulnerable community; sex workers, HIV positive people, domestic workers, etc are all in urgent need of legal aid.
In what is a first, Centre for Advocacy and Research (CFAR) conducted a national meet, where representatives of 46 Community Based Organisations (CBOs) of domestic workers, unorganized workers, sex workers, women living with HIV and transgender people, from 13 states, shared their experiences on how they could enhance access to legal services and entitlements for marginalised communities.
“We started work in 2011 after NALSA decided to give free legal aid to women who have suffered violence in four states in south India. Till 2013, we worked with these communities and found that there were many other groups of people who needed help,” said Akhila Sivadas, founder, CFAR. “With the efforts of these groups, NALSA has now decided to extend help to HIV positive people, transgenders, widows, domestic workers, and will also take free legal aid to other states. Delhi will soon have 100 para legal volunteers in vulnerable areas.”
The meet was also national evaluation of the legal aid extended by the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) and State Legal Services Authority (SLSA) to vulnerable communities. Aapart from several prominent activists like Flavia Agnes, Vrinda Grover, Bharati Ali, there were several representatives of NALSA, including member secretary Asha Menon.
Various group representatives said that since the legal aid fees is too low, there were not too many lawyers willing to fight cases for the marginalised. Almost all community representatives spoke of police insensitivity and violence. They also urged that paralegal workers should include people from the community they are working on, and that special NALSA courts should have trained legal workers, with regular evaluation of their work.
“Women living with HIV constantly face discrimination because there are no laws to protect us against life threatening stigma. Sex workers are routinely abused, especially because they know that a sex worker cannot report to the police,” said P Kousalya, president of the Positive Women’s Network.
Samarjit Jana of the All India Network of Sex Workers (AINSW), said that in a year-long study conducted by them, they found that 90% of abuse perpetrated on sex workers are by the police, goons and pimps. “Unless a sex worker drags an offender to court, no one can help them,” he said.
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