Tamil Nadu: 2 men held for assaulting, harassing, chopping-off hair of transwomen | WATCH

In an inhumane act, two men assaulted, threatened to death and chopped off hair of two transwomen in Tuticorin district of Tamil Nadu.

A painful video of the incident was tweeted by Trans Rights activist, Grace Banu, following which Kazhugumalai police have arrested the two accused.

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Watch the video here:

The 19 second viral video shows two transwomen and two men in a field. They were waylaid by two men. One of the accused men is seen cutting the hair of a transwoman with a blade, her eye is swollen. The man is heard saying that she used to extort money from men. What should we do with them? After this the accused is seen taunting by pointing towards the other transwoman, whose hair they had already chopped, that all was over and she looked better and beautiful now (with chopped hair), don’t you?

After the video surfaced, Trans Rights activist Grace Banu took to twitter, asking when this kind of violence would end. She writes, when Cis people face this same kind of violence people do not keep a mum and that people of her community face this kind of violence every other day.

Following a thread of tweets by Banu, the police have arrested the two accused. A tweet was made by Tamil Nadu police. A case was registered against the two persons seen in the video and that both of them were arrested, said Inspector General, Tamil Nadu Police (South Zone), Asra Garg. The accused have been booked for harassing, abusing, assaulting, and attempt to murder under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019.

Garg added that the accused were acquainted with the transwomen. One of the accused had a relationship with one of the victim transwomen, but later they seperated, she added.

Trans Rights activist Grace Banu also said that  the incident happened on October 7. The accused had shared the video of beating the transwomen in four WhatsApp groups to threaten them. They were brutally beaten up before recording the video. After the incident, the victims were so scared that they did not even go to the hospital for treatment. Only one victim could be traced, the other has left the city fearing something bad would happen with her.

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