The Bangladeshi human rights organisation JusticeMakers Bangladesh has expressed its grave concern about the arrest of four transgender women from a wedding ceremony in Dhaka on 17 January 2023.
JusticeMakers Bangladesh has also urged the concerned authority to immediately release arrested transgenders as well as drop the charge brought against them.
According to information received from the the daily Ajker Patrika online version publish on 18th January 2023, Mirpur Model Police Station of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has arrested four hijras on charges of demanding extortion and rioting in a wedding house in Section No. 3 area under Mirpur police station in the capital.
They were arrested from Road No. 8 of Section No. 3 of Mirpur Model Police Station on Tuesday January 17 afternoon.
Confirming the matter on Tuesday night, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Mirpur Police Station Mohammad Mohsin said that four hijras were arrested on the charge of rioting in the wedding house for demanding money. The arrested transgenders are Barshti Afrin (25), Madhu (32), Ishani (25) and Sumi (22).
He said that the hijras went to that house around noon after getting information that a wedding ceremony was going on in a house in C Block of Section 3, Mirpur. They demanded bdt 20,000 as their continuing livelihood.
When the residents of the house refused to pay the demanded money, the hijras started shouting there. Then Urmila, who arranged her daughter's marriage, gave 1500 bdts. But after receiving this money, the hijras started shouting more and making various obscene gestures.
At that time, Urmila closed the door of the house in fear. Hijras became more angry at this. They started banging and kicking the door. At one stage, the hijras blocked them by closing the house from the outside.
Later the police got the information and rescued them and arrested the transgenders. The police also confiscated one and a half thousand taka and a case has been filed in this regard.
Later, the police sent them to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court (CMM), Dhaka and the court sent them to jail custody.
Founder Secretary General of JusticeMakers Bangladesh and eminent lawyer and minority rights activist Advocate Shahanur Islam has expressed strong protest and anger over the arrest of four transgender women and file case against them in charge of extortion.
Advocate Shahanur Islam thinks that receiving money by begging from the wedding ceremony is a common earning source of livelihood of transgender in Bangladesh.
For that aforesaid allegation, arresting transgender people ,lodging a case in charge of extortion and sending them in jail custody is clearly a violation of human rights, advocate Shahanur Islam added.
In addition , Advocate Shahanur Islam believes that the incident of arresting transgender people, lodge case and sending in jail custody is not an isolated incident in Bangladesh, rather this is common phenomena around the country
It is only a small part of the ongoing human rights violations like discrimination, killing, injury, humiliation, and implicated case to the LGBT community, including transgender women, across the country, advocate Shahanur Islam added.
Advocate Shahanur Islam also stated that although the Bangladesh government has taken some social rehabilitation initiatives by recognising hijras as the third gender, those initiatives are not sufficient enough as they have been involving some criminal activities at various times.
Moreover, Advocate Shahanur Islam thinks that they are sometimes involved in various criminal activities such as extortion, drug trade, smuggling due to their unsound mental development as they are constantly subjected to various human rights violations including discrimination from family to society to state from their childhood.
Finally, Advocate Shahanur Islam demanded constitutional recognition of the LGBT community including hijras as well as repealing Section 377 of the Penal Code and enacting a law to protect members of the LGBT community immediately.
They were arrested from Road No. 8 of Section No. 3 of Mirpur Model Police Station on Tuesday January 17 afternoon.
Confirming the matter on Tuesday night, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Mirpur Police Station Mohammad Mohsin said that four hijras were arrested on the charge of rioting in the wedding house for demanding money. The arrested transgenders are Barshti Afrin (25), Madhu (32), Ishani (25) and Sumi (22).
He said that the hijras went to that house around noon after getting information that a wedding ceremony was going on in a house in C Block of Section 3, Mirpur. They demanded bdt 20,000 as their continuing livelihood.
When the residents of the house refused to pay the demanded money, the hijras started shouting there. Then Urmila, who arranged her daughter's marriage, gave 1500 bdts. But after receiving this money, the hijras started shouting more and making various obscene gestures.
At that time, Urmila closed the door of the house in fear. Hijras became more angry at this. They started banging and kicking the door. At one stage, the hijras blocked them by closing the house from the outside.
Later the police got the information and rescued them and arrested the transgenders. The police also confiscated one and a half thousand taka and a case has been filed in this regard.
Later, the police sent them to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court (CMM), Dhaka and the court sent them to jail custody.
Founder Secretary General of JusticeMakers Bangladesh and eminent lawyer and minority rights activist Advocate Shahanur Islam has expressed strong protest and anger over the arrest of four transgender women and file case against them in charge of extortion.
Advocate Shahanur Islam thinks that receiving money by begging from the wedding ceremony is a common earning source of livelihood of transgender in Bangladesh.
For that aforesaid allegation, arresting transgender people ,lodging a case in charge of extortion and sending them in jail custody is clearly a violation of human rights, advocate Shahanur Islam added.
In addition , Advocate Shahanur Islam believes that the incident of arresting transgender people, lodge case and sending in jail custody is not an isolated incident in Bangladesh, rather this is common phenomena around the country
It is only a small part of the ongoing human rights violations like discrimination, killing, injury, humiliation, and implicated case to the LGBT community, including transgender women, across the country, advocate Shahanur Islam added.
Advocate Shahanur Islam also stated that although the Bangladesh government has taken some social rehabilitation initiatives by recognising hijras as the third gender, those initiatives are not sufficient enough as they have been involving some criminal activities at various times.
Moreover, Advocate Shahanur Islam thinks that they are sometimes involved in various criminal activities such as extortion, drug trade, smuggling due to their unsound mental development as they are constantly subjected to various human rights violations including discrimination from family to society to state from their childhood.
Finally, Advocate Shahanur Islam demanded constitutional recognition of the LGBT community including hijras as well as repealing Section 377 of the Penal Code and enacting a law to protect members of the LGBT community immediately.
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