Transgender activist harassed by goons connected to ruling establishment in TN, police allegedly show apathy

A representative of the south regional National Council for Transgender Persons was allegedly abused and threatned by a group of people, who owe allegiance to a political party, near Mamallapuram. Gopi Shankar Madurai, who lives in the area, was allegedly threatened by 6 unidentified persons who are purportedly connected to a Political party, while he was walking back to his residence.

On Friday night, when Gopi Shankar was taking a stroll after dinner, near his residence, following all COVID-19 protocols, a group of 6 people came in bikes with political stickers, and threatened and harassed him, obstructing his path.

“6 people who belonging to the DMK – alliance party MDMK obstructed my way and started abusing and threatening me with death. They said they are close to Mallai Satya MLA from MDMK. On my opposition, they started mishandling me physically and pushing me away. They continuously abused verbally and mishandled me physically for around 20 minutes.” Gopi said speaking to The Commune.

“Despite my opposition, they started manhandling. They continuously abused and threatened me for nearly 20 minutes. After that, I managed to alert the police. A police patrol vehicle reached the spot but they did not take any action against them,” he said.

Gopi Shankar, who then visited the Police Station immediately after, to file a complaint, was not received properly by the police too. The Police who seemed very indifferent in their response said that they were ‘bigshots’ of Mamallapuram. They then asked Gopi to come the next day morning to register a complaint.

A senior officer in the station has said that necessary action would be taken after due enquiry. “Despite my official status, which is on a par with the Under Secretary to the Government of India, the police personnel in the station did not respect me nor took any affirmative action,” he charged.

(With inputs from The Hindu)

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