Representatives of the transgender community in Kolkata, who were planning to stage a sit-in outside West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s house from Wednesday afternoon as her Durga Puja was not funded by the state government, claimed that the police forcibly took her away. protest broke.
“We were allowed to protest but they beat us up and later apologized. We are going to file a complaint and intensify our fight against this government,” said Ranjita Sinha, director of the Transgender/Hijra Association.
The transgender community has been performing their puja in Kolkata for five years. For the first three years, it was held at the association’s offices on Gokhale Road under the banner of Gokhale Road Bandhan, but last year the venue was shifted to a central government-built shelter in Mukundapur. He had received a puja grant last year.
“How did other puja committees get grants this year and we didn’t?” Ms Sinha asked earlier in the day, sharing a photograph from last year, which showed her receiving a check for ₹50,000 from the officer in charge of Bhabnipur police station. It is the concerned police station that hands over the checks to the individual worship committees. This year, the state government increased the grant to ₹60,000, but Ms. Sinha said she did not receive the cheque.
“We are not ready to accept this unfair action of the state government against me and my people. This is an insult to the Supreme Court and the National Legal Services Authority’s decision, which brought our right to life at the forefront. We have a right to know what is the point of not giving us this money,” said Ms. Sinha. “Does this mean the state government is transphobic?”
Police sources, however, insisted that the transperson missed the check due to technical reasons. “Earlier, his worship used to take place under the limits of Bhabnipur police station. Two years ago, the site shifted and now it comes under East Jadavpur region. Last year he somehow got the check. But this year due to this technical reason [shifting], the check was not issued. However, the officer-in-charge of Bhabnipur is trying to ensure that the check can be given to him,” said a police source.
However, Ms Sinha rubbished the claim that the police were trying to reach her. “Actually, we are reaching them and running from pillar to post, but they are evasive. And it’s not like we’ve gone to some obscure place. In fact, many foreign dignitaries, including American diplomats, attended our worship this year. It would not have been difficult to find us,” she said.