Two members of the transgender community were allegedly gang raped and at least two others physically abused in their own home in Karachi's Bilawal Shah Noorani Society last week.
In a video shared by Trans Action Pakistan on Facebook, Sindh Transgender Network (STN) Area Coordinator Sapna said a group of men broke into a house rented out by a group of transgender women and allegedly subjected them to physical and sexual abuse when they refused to entertain them.
STN Provincial Coordinator Ihsan Ali told Dawn.com on Monday that two of the transgender women were gang raped by five men. Three of the men have been identified, whereas the identities of the other two remain unknown, he added.
Ali claimed police had not lodged an FIR in the case. "Police only took a complaint application from Sapna," he said, adding, "They did not even order a physical examination, which is a basic requirement for any rape case."
"Neither have they visited the area in the past five days," he said.
"We are planning to petition a court to get the police to register an FIR on Wednesday... Protests are also being planned for Wednesday, not just for this case, but also for other incidents that have taken place in the city against members of the transgender community in the past week."
Dawn independently confirmed that an FIR had yet to be registered against the incident on September 4 — five days after the original video regarding the incident was shared on social media.
STN Technical Advisory Board Member Sarah Gill in a separate video shared on Facebook confirmed the community would be protesting violence against the transgender community in Karachi soon.
Gill discussed various incidents of violence, including the gang rapes and the killing of Chanda on Aug 29. She also mentioned the arrest of a man who had allegedly harassed, raped and tortured several members of the transgender community.
"He had done the same... last week and we had to protest in front of the Nazimabad police station just to get an FIR registered," Gill claimed.
A transgender woman named Chanda was gunned down in Karachi's Defence area last week. Police said the shooting took place at night, when passengers in an SUV first harassed a group of transgender individuals by throwing rotten eggs at them, and then opened fire on them before fleeing.
A bullet hit Chanda, killing her on the spot. Investigators are using surveillance camera footage to trace the SUV and arrest the culprits.
Additional reporting by Imtiaz Ali
