Transgender dies of burns at police station

While police claimed that the victim had immolated herself following an altercation after police seized her vehicle and brought it to the police station, the victim’s friends claimed that she had been assaulted and later set on fire by the police. 

At around 5 am, Tara (27), a resident of Choolaimedu had gone to the police station to take back the vehicle and mobile phone which was confiscated by the police at Habibullah Road a few hours earlier. Police said that they had confiscated Tara’s vehicle and phone as she was part of a group of transgenders who were causing public nuisance late on Tuesday and when a police team approached them, they hurled abuses and even tried to attack the police. 

“After we seized the vehicle, Tara came to the police station in an inebriated condition and an argument broke out. Later, she returned to the station with petrol and set herself on fire,” a police official said. The victim was rushed to Kilpauk Medical College and Hospital where she succumbed to burns.

As news spread about the immolation in front of a police station, several transgenders thronged the hospital and staged a protest condemning the police action.  One of them even slit her throat but was taken to the emergency ward and rescued. Patients and visitors at the hospital were put to great inconvenience due to the unrest.