Can a man pretend to be a ‘man pretending to be a woman?’
Narsimha Bichappa Shirvati, a 47 year old man was recently convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison for drugging and raping a woman in Mumbai. He was also sentenced to an additional year under the ‘Maharashtra Prevention & Eradication of Human Sacrifice & Other Inhuman Evil and Aghori Practices & Black Magic’ Act for performing certain “rituals” to cure the influence of an “evil eye.” Although the incident took place in 2018, the judgement was passed last week, and the media coverage of it has been… interesting. The Times of India reports the incident with the following headline: “Fake transperson gets 7 years jail for rape & black magic in Mumbai.” Hindustan Times writes “Man gets 7-year jail term for raping tutor posing as transgender.” While the ‘fakeness’ of this man’s ‘trans’ identity is subject to scrutiny in itself, it is rather hasty for a national news outlet to make such conclusions without investigating it further.
How exactly can one know whether or not a person is ‘transgender’, especially when the activists proclaim “transwomen are women – deal with it!?”
The 47 year old convict seems to have met the victim on the 11th of April 2018, when she was visiting someone. She spotted Shirvati – a trans-identifying male – outside the house. The media report, however, dilutes this by stating that the man “appeared to be a transgender.” Shirvati went on to tell her about “influences of evil eye” and how he can offer “remedies” for it. Likely after manipulating her into trying the remedies, the victim reported he used several “ingredients” on her which made her dizzy. He then took her to the bathroom and raped her. Her attempts at escape were met with threats that she will die a “slow death and never have children.” In her testimony, the victim clearly mentioned that Shirvati committed penetration, and the court dismissed Shirvati’s many vague defences before convicting him.
While it is a comfort to the victim and the general public that the perpetrator has been duly convicted, it is rather confusing that the judge came to the conclusion that he was, in fact, not a ‘transgender.’ In a rather bizarre statement, judge AB Sharma said:
“In our society, people take blessings from the transgender on several occasions like marriages, birth of child, etc. Therefore, it is very obvious that the victim kept faith in the accused who was pretending to be a transgender. But it is seen that the accused by taking the benefit of faith of the woman committed oral penetration with her.”
Firstly, a person has to be male to be called a ‘transgender woman’. For the judge to rule that the convict was “pretending to be transgender” makes me wonder if he thinks a man can pretend to be a ‘man pretending to be a woman?’ I also wonder if the legal system is oblivious to the dangers of self-ID, gleefully permitting men to self declare as ‘female’ with no surgery requirements. And finally, how exactly can one know whether or not a person is ‘transgender’, especially when they proclaim “transwomen are women – deal with it!?” Why is the judge not accused of ‘transphobia’, where are the trans rights activists, where is the social media uproar? Or is that mayhem only reserved to disparage feminists like me for stating material reality?
I’m relieved that the sessions court convicted this man on the basis of sex, despite the strange way in which they arrived at it. A ‘transgender woman’, fake or not, is male; and the legal system should record him as such. If in this case the convict had been a ‘real’ transgender (whatever that means), would the court record it as a “rape committed by a woman?” In case the judge confused this man to be part of the ‘hijra’ community, such conflation has its own set of problems – you can read more about it here.
A ‘transgender woman’, fake or not, is male; and the legal system should record him as such.
In many countries, male convicts are already being housed in women’s prisons on the basis of their ‘gender identity’ and India is catching up. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, there were 70 transgender prisoners in jails across the country in 2020. The Home Ministry said, “the self-identity of transgender persons must be respected at all times while conducting admission procedures, medical examination, frisking, clothing, requisitioning of a police escort, treatment and care inside prisons.” This would completely skew the already poorly maintained crime statistics, and weigh heavily upon the status of women in this profoundly misogynistic country. Only last month, a ‘queer’ lawyer wrote a passionate appeal to the Chief Justice of India D.Y.Chandrachud requesting a “small administrative direction” to include preferred pronouns in court appearance slips. This additional section on the slip is to “affirm the identities of queer lawyers,” and will also be reflected in Court orders and judgments.
In 2021, cases in two different cities were recorded for abduction and murder of infants. In a West Bengal city, a child less than a month old, passed away on the lap of the accused. He refused to give the child back to the parents because they were unable to pay him for his “blessings.” In another event, a man was arrested for kidnapping and burying alive a three-month-old girl for the same reason. The accused, the police said, had kidnapped and killed her to “teach them a lesson.” Whether or not the girl was raped was not made evident.
India is also plagued by fetishistic men who exploit the vulnerability of children for sexual motives. Last year, a 13-year-old boy in Delhi was forced to undergo sex change surgery and raped multiple times. The accused repeatedly abused the boy and “forced him to beg at traffic signals as a transgender.”
There is no clarity on whether a male convict’s crime will be recorded on the basis of sex or ‘gender identity’. Given that there are many ways to manipulate this legal ambiguity, how can a country riddled with male violence against women be able to categorise who is or is not a ‘transgender’? And based on the rise in crimes committed by men who declare they are ‘trans’ in order to evade punishment or be housed in female only prisons, shouldn’t legal systems create clearer, stricter laws? Instead, by passing judgements that obfuscate the crimes, the courts set dangerous legal precedent that will pave way for further exploitation.
What is evident is that neither the Indian media nor the courts have a grasp on reality. If they did, we wouldn’t be in this hot mess in the first place.
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