KOLKATA: Joyita Mondal, India’s first transgendered judge, has been threatened by a group of men, allegedly owing allegiance to Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). Mondal said they threatened to stop the release of ‘I am Joyita’, a documentary film on her. A VHP leader, though, said they were not aware of the incident.

Joyita and the film’s director, Soumya Sengupta, have been vocal about an apparent drive to rechristen Islampur, the North Dinajpur sub-division where she lives, ‘Iswarpur’. “A Facebook post by Soumya last week triggered the incident,” explained Joyita, referring to the photograph of a signboard that read, ‘VHP karjaloy, Ishwarpur zilla’ in Joyita’s neighbourhood. Sengupta had questioned the move’s rationale.

“Quite a few signboards like these are being put up in Islampur. The signboard at a local school, ‘ Saraswati Shishumandir o Vidyamandir’, also refers to Islampur as Iswarpur. I find the name-change demand completely uncalled for,” Joyita said.

“A group of men, claiming to be from VHP, came to my place last Saturday and asked me to leave this place and that my community (transsexuals) is not recognized in Hindu culture,” Joyita told TOI. “They also said that they wouldn’t allow the release of ‘I am Joyita’,” she added.

Joyita hit the headlines with her appointment as a judge at Islampur Lok Adalat on July 8 last year..

“The men told me that although they didn’t approve of my gender status, they knew I have done ‘some good work’. They also claimed this was a Hindu-dominated region and not a Muslim-majority one, and hence, the name change,” Joyita said. “They said it’s because of me that Soumya came to Islampur and took photographs of the signboards. So they won’t allow the film’s release....The VHP often invited me to their programmes, but I did not attend. Maybe they are holding it against me.”

VHP’s Islampur president Chandan Seth, however, said, “I have no knowledge about any such incident. Please give me names.” Joyita said, “I have no idea. I didn’t ask their names. They identified themselves as members of VHP.”

