Acid thrown at a transgender in Pakistan

Trigger warning: The following content may cause emotional distress.

LAHORE: According to police, Kinza, 23, a transgender, was waiting for an auto rickshaw alongside a road in Race Course area of the city on Wednesday when Hamza Salim appeared on a motorbike there and threw acid on her and fled from the scene.

Kinza was rushed to the Services Hospital where she was treated for her burns on face and arms. Her condition was stated to be stable.

Hina, Kinza's friend, told reporters at the hospital that suspect Hamza wanted to develop relations with her. On her refusal, the suspect turned hostile and hurled life threats to her. She requested the Punjab chief minister to provide security to Kinza as Hamza led a gang that harassed the transgenders in the city.

Police claimed to have arrested the suspect and registered a case against him and three other accomplices.

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Ataullah Tarar met the acid attack victim in hospital and congratulated the police for nabbing the culprit and asserted that there is zero tolerance for such acts.

According to recent study related to the issues of transgender community, some 77 per cent experienced physical attacks.

The transgender community is socially excluded by the Pakistani society where they experience high levels of physical abuse and face discriminatory behaviour in daily life, the study says.

''Such attitudes make them vulnerable for risky behaviors; forcing them to become commercial sex workers, begging, drugs use and even suicidal ideation,'' it says.

In October 2021, a transgender woman died in another horrific instance of acid attack. Under Section 144 of the Pakistan Penal Code, public dealing of acid and other corrosive substances is banned. Offenders are punishable under Section 336(B) of the Pakistan Penal Code, which has a maximum term of life imprisonment. In 2018, the National Assembly passed the Acid and Burn Crime Bill, which aims at making provisions to specifically criminalise acid and burn-related violence by providing fair and speedy trial of such heinous crimes and for matters connected therewith and incidental thereto.