A young woman, R, who is 23 and from Delhi, has been kept in prison since August 13, 2022, in Hoshiarpur, Punjab, based on completely false allegations of kidnapping her friend, T, a 22-year-old transman who left the home of his parents in Hoshiarpur, Punjab of his own volition. This is one of the first cases of a woman being jailed for days, even after the so-called kidnapped victim has recorded his statement before the Judicial Magistrate in Hoshiarpur on August 20, 2022 that he had left his house on his own, and was not ‘kidnapped’.
Assigned female gender at birth, T came out to his parents as a transman years ago; however, his parents never fully came to terms with his identity. They would resort to violence and emotional blackmail to control him. The environment at home began to feel suffocating as T grew into his own. His succour was making friends with people he had a connection with, like R, through social media.
Being unable to live with his parents who refused to accept him as a man, T decided to come to Delhi on 9th August, 2022. He informed them he was leaving and turned his phone off to avoid being harassed by them. When R learned about T’s arrival in Delhi, she encouraged him to call them back to smooth things out with them. But T had no desire to return to his hometown in the immediate future and began contacting shelter homes while temporarily staying with another friend in Delhi.
Despite knowing T left of his own accord, his mother lodged an FIR under Sections 363/366 and 120-B IPC in T’s hometown in Hoshiarpur on August 12th, falsely alleging that R had kidnapped T. On 13th August, the Punjab police arrived in Delhi with assistance from T’s family and managed to trace R. They forced her to contact T and persuade him to come to her residence to speak with the police. T feared for his life and safety and was aware that the police and his family wanted to lure him to R’s residence only to take him to Punjab against his will forcibly. T categorically told the police that he had left the home of his own free will and had no desire to accompany his family back to Punjab. Instead of closing the case, the police detained R and took her back to Hoshiarpur, Punjab, that same evening without informing her parents or following the due procedure of law of detaining an alleged accused outside the State and bringing her back to Punjab.
While in police custody, R was mistreated and not allowed to see her family or get in touch with a lawyer. She was produced before a Magistrate and remanded to police custody for a full week, despite the police and T’s parents knowing that T was an adult and had left him of his own volition.
When T learned about R’s arrest, he was anxious to secure her release as the allegations against her were patently false, to the knowledge of his parents and the police. He informed the Punjab police several times that he was willing to come to Hoshiarpur to record his statement but needed police protection from his family. By this time, he was staying in Garima Greh, a shelter home for transgender persons established with the support of the Central Government and run by the Mitr Trust in Delhi. It was only on the representation of the Mitr Trust that T finally got the assurance from the police on 18th August 2022 that he would be provided protection. T travelled to Hoshiarpur from Delhi in the wee hours of 19th August 2022, accompanied by a lawyer and an activist, on the assurance by the police that his statement would be recorded on that day and R would be released soon after.
Yet, upon arrival in Hoshiarpur on 19th August 2022, T was informed that T’s statement would not be recorded that day due to an unspecified guideline, which the police and the public prosecutor were unable to furnish. Although T had told the police charged with protecting him from his family that he did not want to see his family, whom he considered a threat to his safety, the police made several attempts to facilitate a meeting even before T’s statement was recorded. They castigated him for leaving home, discounting that he was free to do so as an adult.
T’s statement was finally recorded the following day, on 20th August 2022. He also gave a clear and categorical statement to the Magistrate, as well as in the presence of his parents, that he did not wish to live with his parents, from whom he faced a threat to his safety. This entire time, the police gave repeated assurances that they would do the needful to release R without delay.
T returned to Delhi the same day, unable to stay to ensure the release of R, as he still faced the threat from his family. R’s mother has been running from pillar to post to ensure that her daughter be released. The police initially stated that R would be released by the evening on August 21st. The following day, they said that they had not applied for her release. She was instead sent to judicial custody on August 21st. A little after noon on August 22nd, T was informed that R would be released by 4 pm that day. But upon following up with them at 4:30 pm, he was told that the SHO’s sign-off on her release was awaited. On August 23rd, T was told by the police that the police had filed an application to release R and that she would be out ‘in a couple of days’. By August 24th and 25th, the police had become even vaguer and non-committal, saying that ‘R will be released when she has to be released.’ For the last five days, T has been desperately trying to secure R’s release and get information about her condition, but to no avail.
To date, R continues to languish in jail far away from her home. Through no fault of her own, she has found herself guilty of only a single crime, that of supporting a transman and helping him in his quest to live a life of dignity and freedom.