Daily Times

SIALKOT: Sialkot police Monday arrested nine suspects including prime accused Jajja Butt after a video of a transgender being flogged was shared thousands of times on social media.

A case was registered against the suspects belonging to ‘Tinda Group’.

The gang’s leader, identified as Jajja Butt, is seen in the video flogging the transgender, who lay face down on a cot screaming in pain.

At one point, while another gang member continues the flogging, Butt places his foot on the victim’s neck and twists his arms.

Reportedly, prime accused Jajja Butt mercilessly thrashed the victim for organising a function without his permission. Tinda Group has forbidden the transgender community to do any function without its permission.

Jajja and his accomplices had allegedly abducted members of the transgender community namely Adeeba, Dillagi, Hina, Adil and Shanaya. They were taken to one of a suspects’ farmhouse in Kotli and were subjected to brutal torture.

“They used to torture us with burning cigarettes and abuse us. They have also shaved heads of some of my friends,” a victim told a private TV news channel.

Police have named 18 suspects in the first information report (FIR) while nine of them have been detained so far.

As outcasts, members of transgender community are often forced into begging, dancing and even prostitution to earn money. They also live in fear of attacks, causing most to either change their names or use only one name to give them anonymity in the society.