‘Chamayam 2020’, the annual cultural fiesta of the transgender community, will be held at Kozhikode Town Hall on Friday as part of the third anniversary celebrations of Punarjani Cultural Society, an organisation for the welfare of the community.
Society president Sisily George told reporters here on Tuesday that make-up artist Renju Renjimar will open the event at 10 a.m. on Friday, while welfare standing committee chairperson of Kozhikode Corporation Anitha Rajan will preside over.
A seminar on ‘Identity and rights of transgender individuals’ will be held at 11 a.m. Project Officer of State IT Cell Shyama S. Prabha, State Transgender Justice Board member Sheethal Shyam, Queerythm president Prajith P.K., poet Vijayaraja Mallika and social activist Daya Gayathri will take part in the discussions.
District panchayat president Babu Parasseri will open the cultural convention at 5 p.m. M.K. Muneer, MLA, and Sub Collector Priyanka G. will be the guests of honour. The first media award instituted by Punarjani will be presented on the occasion by Thalassery Sub Judge R.L. Baiju. V.S. Ranjith from Malayala Manorama is the winner of the award.
State-wide protest
Meanwhile, transgender activists were planning to launch a State-wide agitation in protest against the delay in nabbing the culprits in the murder cases of five transpersons from Kerala in the past three years, said Ms. Sisily.
The police have been unable to crack the cases despite making headway in some of them. It has been around eight months since Shalu, a transwoman, was murdered in Kozhikode. Though the police had identified the accused from CCTV footage, he had not yet been nabbed. “Though petitions had been forwarded to the Chief Minister and the State Police Chief, there has been no action. The Kerala State Human Rights Commission had registered a complaint, but it was yet to be taken up at its sitting,” added Ms. Sisily.
