india

Updated: Mar 27, 2018 13:31 IST

A transgender was allegedly stripped at a police station in Kerala’s Alappuzha and her images circulated on social media on Monday.

The newly formed state transgender justice board said it will take strict action against the erring cops.

According to transgender activists, the victim was picked up by a patrolling police team and taken to the police station.

She was allegedly stripped by policemen who feared that she might attempt suicide in the cell. Later, some policemen allegedly took photos and videos of her and uploaded them on social media which have gone viral.

Alappuzha police superintendent A Surendran said a special team has been constituted to probe the incident. He said the incident happened last Thursday.

“Police reached the spot after some local people complained about a drunken brawl and took the transgender into custody. We have to investigate who took the video and later circulated it on social media,” he said, assuring strict action against the guilty policemen.

Two months ago, a transgender was assaulted and stripped by a mob on allegations of her being a child kidnapper. Police had registered a case after a video of the brutal assault surfaced on social media.

Kerala is the first state to formulate a transgender policy aimed at ending discriminatory treatment towards the third gender and bring them to mainstream.

Last year, it set up a transgender justice board to deal with their complaints and introduced a separate column called “intersex” in the birth and death registration forms.

It was also made mandatory for all government buildings to have separate washrooms for the third sex.

The efforts have paid off to some extent as S Shyama, a transgender, had enrolled for her PhD last year after completing her postgraduate course. Many transgender people were inducted into Kochi Metro as staff. However, members of the community feel society is yet change its attitude and accept them.