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He had alleged that during the talks of compromise, they offered him a Cold Drink and after consuming the same he became unconscious and when he regained consciousness, he found himself lying outside his house in the gali and found his penis cut (emasculated), which fact he told to his wife after which he was taken to SGM Hospital on which he lodged a police complaint and the FIR was registered. (30) The allegations made by Ramesh @ Lilly were investigated and it is alleged that initially after the arrest of Ram Babu Gupta and Lalita @ Vinod during interrogation they made a disclosure statement St. Vs. Bobby Etc., FIR No. 200/11, PS Mangol Puri Page No. 19 of 32 and confessed about their involved in the case whereas Shobha @ Disco and Lakshmi denied their involvement claiming that at the relevant time when the alleged incident took place, they were collecting Badhai at J­506/507, Jahangir Puri in a Programme which continued till 11:00 PM and had also presented a CD in support of their defence. Later during investigations Ramesh @ Lilly came to the SHO Police Station Mangol Puri and handed over a memorandum dated 24.5.2011 informing him that there was no such incident of Castration by the accused Lalita, Ram Babu, Lakshmi and Shobha as claimed by him initially. He has further explained that he was a natural male and there was an objection by the group of Eunuchs to his collecting the Badhai in the area along with them and used to quarrel with them and he was fed up of their obstructions and hence he alongwith Bobby another Eunuch/ Transgender designed a plan and got himself emasculated/ castrated through one Khalibuddin @ Salimuddin (accused) which he did out of his own volition in order to become a Eunuch so that he could collect the Badhai in the area. Ramesh @ Lilly further informed the SHO Police Station Mangolpuri that in pursuance to the same on 24.5.2011 the accused Khalibuddin @ Salimuddin had come to Mangol Puri along with Bobby and he went to the house No. I­360, Mangol Puri where Khalibuddin @ Salimuddin carried out the surgical castration/ emasculation. In the said memorandum Ramesh @ Lilly further informed the SHO that he had named other persons namely Lalita, Ram Babu and St. Vs. Bobby Etc., FIR No. 200/11, PS Mangol Puri Page No. 20 of 32 Lakshmi only because they used to support Shobha @ Disco. It is mentioned by the Investigating Officer in the charge sheet that this memorandum/ affidavit was also placed before the Ld. Court at the time of application filed by the accused Lalita, Ram Babu, Lakshmi and Shobha for grant of bail and the above accused were admitted to bail in the light of the above memorandum. It is in this background that the Investigating Officer Inspector Jogender Singh then filed the charge sheet not only against the accused Lalita, Ram Babu, Lakshmi and Shobha claiming that they had been named by Ramesh @ Lilly in the FIR recorded on his statement but also against the accused Bobby and Khalibuddin @ Salimuddin on the ground that the investigations conducted by him revealed that the version given by Ramesh @ Lilly was false and incorrect and rather it is Bobby and Khalibuddin @ Salimuddin who had carried out the emasculation/ surgical castration of Ramesh @ Lilly which is the second version which has emerged.

(31) It is writ large from the bare reading of the charge sheet that as per the prosecution case while on the one hand it was alleged by the victim/ complainant Ramesh @ Lilly that the group of Eunuchs/ Transgenders headed by Shobha @ Disco comprising of Lalita, Ram Babu and Lakshmi had emasculated/ castrated him to seek a revenge whereas on the other hand during the investigations it emerged that it was the complainant Ramesh @ Lilly himself who in connivance with the accused Bobby eunuch/ transgender had voluntarily got himself St. Vs. Bobby Etc., FIR No. 200/11, PS Mangol Puri Page No. 21 of 32 emasculated/ castrated by Khalibbudin @ Salimuddin only to implicate the rival group of Eunuchs/ transgenders comprising of Shobha @ Disco, Lalita, Ram Babu and Lakshmi so that he could independently and exclusively collect the Badhai in the same area over which the group of Shobha @ Disco was claiming and exercising exclusive territorial rights. (32) Before coming to the merits of the allegations, counter allegations and the evidence before me, I may observe that on the face of it the dispute relates to collection of Badhai and the territorial rights connected with the same. Transgender communities have existed in most parts of the world with their own local identities, customs and rituals. They are called baklas in the Philippines, berdaches among American Indian tribes, serrers in Africa and hijras, jogappas, jogtas, shiv­shaktis and aravanis in South Asia. The Transgender Community in India, which has a recorded history of more than 4,000 years, was considered to have special powers because of its third­gender status. It was part of a well­ established `eunuch culture' in many societies, especially in West Asia, and its members held sanctioned positions in royal courts. (33) Transgenders/ Eunuchs trace their origins to myths in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Rama, while leaving for the forest upon being banished from the kingdom for 14 years, turns around to his followers and asks all the `men and women' to return to the city. Among his followers the Transgenders/ Eunuchs alone do not feel bound by this direction and decide to stay with him. Impressed with their devotion, St. Vs. Bobby Etc., FIR No. 200/11, PS Mangol Puri Page No. 22 of 32 Lord Rama sanctioned them the power to confer blessings on people on auspicious occasions like childbirth and marriage, and also at inaugural functions. This set the stage for the custom of Badhai in which Transgenders/ Eunuchs sing, dance and confer blessings. (34) The legend in the Mahabharata is that Aravan, the son of Arjuna and Nagakanya, offers to be sacrificed to Goddess Kali to ensure the victory of the Pandavas in the Kurukshetra war. The only condition that he made was to spend the last night of his life in matrimony. Since no woman was willing to marry one who was doomed to be killed, Krishna assumes the form of a beautiful woman called Mohini and marries him. The Transgenders/ Eunuchs of Tamil Nadu consider Aravan their progenitor and call themselves aravanis.

(44) The law as it stands, of now, is that Emasculation/ Castration of a male by his own volition and consent is not an offence and it is only a forcible Emasculation/ Castration which is an offence. It is alleged that the sole motive which propelled Ramesh @ Lilly to opt for Voluntary Castration was monetary gain i.e. for securing Badhai collection rights in the area to the exclusion of the other group of Eunuchs (i.e. group headed by Shobha @ Disco) which rights are traditionally available only to Eunuchs/ Transgenders.

(45) Ironic it is, and hypocrisy writ large that in our country while on the one hand a natural born male who with the sole purpose of achieving monetary gains by way of acquisition of Badhai rights to the exclusion of the Transgenders/ Eunuchs with whom these rights are traditionally vested, gets himself Castrated of his own volition conveniently gets away with it, while on the other hand the mere mention of Castration (Chemical or Surgical) as a form of punishment for serial rapist and pedophiles, evokes strong sentiments and kick­up an intellectual storm by terming it as Tallibanic and Barbaric, despite its legalization in the so called Civil World. It is, of course, another matter St. Vs. Bobby Etc., FIR No. 200/11, PS Mangol Puri Page No. 29 of 32 and we as a Nation should not and ought not to encourage such regressive practices of collection of Badhai traditionally stereotyped to a particular gender i.e. Eunuchs/ Transgenders, which practices are required to be immediately banned in terms of the law so declared and the sentiments so expressed by the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of National Legal Services Authority Vs. Union of India (Supra), being unconstitutional and illegal and immediate steps need to be taken to bring this marginalized gender (Transgenders/ Eunuchs) within the main stream of the society so that they are not treated as out­castes. (46) In the present case the complainant Ramesh @ Lilly has given a clean chit to the accused Bobby and Khalibuddin while orally incriminating Lalita, Ram Babu, Lakshmi and Shobha @ Disco (all group of Eunuchs/ Transgenders) to whom the Investigating Officer has given a clean chit and the Ld. Predecessor Court refused to proceed there being no material primafacie to proceed against them. The Medical Evidence confirms Emasculation/ Castration but does not support the version of the complainant Ramesh and establishes that the injury was more than two days old. On the face of it the dispute relates to groups of Eunuchs/ Transgenders involved in practice of collection of Badhai being their sole source of income and the complainant Ramesh @ Lilly being a natural male was excluded from their group by Shobha @ Disco and hence in order to bring himself within their folds for controlling the territorial Badhai Rights - Ramesh along with Bobby created their group St. Vs. Bobby Etc., FIR No. 200/11, PS Mangol Puri Page No. 30 of 32 after Ramesh @ Lilly got himself Emasculated/ Castrated. In the given situation, I fail to understand under what provisions of law can the complainant Ramesh @ Lilly be compelled by the Investigating Officer to become a witness against himself or to inculpate himself and also Bobby and Khalibuddin. The Investigating Officer has made a mockery of law and created his own procedures and in case if he had concluded that the complaint filed by Ramesh @ Lilly and the allegations against Lalita, Ram Babu, Lakshmi and Shobha @ Disco were false, he had no business to file the charge sheet against all of them by adding Bobby and Khalibuddin also as accused since Castration by one's own volition/ consent is not an offence, and the only option open to him was to file a Closure Report which he has not done.