Police book armed men for torturing, harassing transgender people in Rawalpindi

RAWALPINDI: Police on Tuesday took notice of the harassment of transgender individuals here in the city and booked the armed men who were seen torturing and abusing the members of the minority community in a video that went viral on social media.

A first information report (FIR) was filed, comprising charges of kidnapping and sexual abuse, according to a statement on the Rawapindi Police's official Twitter account,

Central Police Officer (CPO) for Rawalpindi Muhammad Ahsan Younis had earlier today taken notice of the issue, saying teams were constituted to probe the matter.

In this regard, the Superintendent of Police (SP) for Rawalpindi said the accused in the video were identified and would be arrested soon.

Police noted that the transgender individuals had approached a protection centre seeking justice after it reached out offering assistance to them. Their protection would be ensured, officials added.

Those who abuse marginalised communities in the society would not be spared legal action at any cost, police added.

Late last night, Aisha Mughal, the transgender rights expert at the Ministry of Human Rights, had said on Twitter a committee of experts "are following up" the case after a video emerged of armed men "harassing a group of transgender persons".

"They beat them and remove their cloths while making their video," Mughal wrote on Twitter. "The culprit needs to be punished!"

Mughal added that they were working alongside Reem Sharif, a transgender victim support officer in Punjab Police.

In the video, multiple armed men were seen forcing a group of transgender individuals to strip off their clothes at gunpoint before going on to assault them.