This book records real-life experiences of transgender violence and victimisation, analysing the legal lacunae in granting protection to the historically vulnerable community and their perspective of the law and safety. It is an outcome of extensive empirical legal research conducted in the state of West Bengal, India. With exploration of global scenario of violence, a systematic pattern of victimisation has been identified leading to a reasonable conclusion of internationalisation of transgender violence and victimisation that is largely ignored and is bereft of any legal protection. Premised on the fact that without safety and protection against grave crimes, no amount of civil rights protection is effective, the book provides an account of the ever-increasing gravity of transgender violence and victimisation. Recognising that there is a paucity of research on type of targeted violence against transgender persons, yet even with that scarcity of consistent and reliable reporting to official law enforcement sources, the data that is available from governments, public interest groups, and community surveys about SOGI motivated violence reveals that precarity, prevalence, violence and the harm caused are graver as against other types of crimes and crimes against LGB population,, the author deliberately chose to focus on unearthing violence and victimisation. The culturally sensitive approach to the problem is first of its kind in the legal landscape and expects to contribute to the developing jurisprudence.

The book navigates through the transgender jurisprudence to conclude that attempts made by the law-makers across the world is only tokenistic and that the real pulse of the community is far from being recognised in law. The in-depth interviews with law enforcement bodies and transgender activists and victims reveal gaps between laws and realities, whose impact assessment has been attempted in the book to suggest possible best practices to reduce vulnerability and auger empowerment. The book expects to open doors for more legal and interdisciplinary research, in India and abroad by scholars of law, sociology, victimology and others.

Autorentext

Somabha Bandopadhay is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Law, Forensic Justice and Policy Studies, National Forensic Sciences University, Delhi who was formerly associated with The West Bengal National University for Juridical Sciences (WBNUJS), Kolkata, India. Somabha won the prestigious Bar Council of India Inter-University Moot Court competition in 2017 and was adjudged the Best speaker as well as the Best Female Advocate that ensured her a scholarship from the Council for a year. Somabha, who pursues active research on transgender rights in India has been awarded the Indo-Canadian Shastri Mitacs Scholarship to pursue research on victimization of transgender persons and pursued her research at the School of Criminology, University of Montreal, Canada. She has more than 20 articles, 5 book chapters and an edited book to her credit. She happens to serve in the advisory panel of several organisations including NGOs working on transgender rights.