Pune: Woman Beaten And Humiliated By Transgenders For Posting Videos And Calling Out Superstitions In The Queer Community
Pune, 11th July 2022: Content Creator Vijaya Gawade was making an awareness video for social media where she was describing some weird rituals practised by the transgender community but a transgender took offence to her video and ganged up on her and beat her.
Shivlaxmi Zalte, a trans woman found the videos offensive. She alleged that they were mocking her and the community. Around three months ago, Zalte filed a complaint against Gawade in Nashik under the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights Act) of 2019. Gawade was consequently taken into custody and released on bail. Zalte was so incensed by this that she decided to intervene and teach Gawade a lesson.
Gawade, a native of Baramati, had earlier apologized to Zalte after the latter had threatened to punish her. Gawade later apologized in a video that Zalte had recorded and released, but it wasn’t enough. She allegedly threatened Gawade by claiming that her son will be publicly slandered. She was still enraged that the originator of the content was free on bail.
Zalte recently summoned her to a building in Vishrantwadi on June 26 and urged her to apologize once more to everyone else as well. There, Zalte and other individuals beat Gawade. They even draped a garland made of shoes around her neck while filming the act for social media use.
Sagar Shinde, also known as Shivlaxmi Zalte, Mohini Hajare, Anuja Lohar, Ashwini Jadhav, Sanjivani Rane, and five other men and women who were present at the scene have all been named in an FIR registered by the Vishrantwadi police station.
They have been booked for offences under sections 143 (punishment for participating in an unlawful assembly), 147 (punishment for rioting), 324 (voluntarily inflicting harm with a weapon or other force), 323 (voluntarily inflicting harm), 506 (criminal intimidation), 500 (punishment for defamation), 342 (wrongful confinement), and 355 (assault or criminal force with the intent to dishonor a person) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
