Transgender woman claims unidentified men kidnapped, raped her in Peshawar's Chamkani

PESHAWAR: A transgender woman has claimed that unidentified men kidnapped and raped her in their moving car in Peshawar's Chamkani neighbourhood, police said Sunday.

Police stated that a first information report (FIR) of the incident was registered but it remains unclear as to whether only a charge of kidnapping has been included or gang-rape as well.

"I was going home after a programme [event] when unknown individuals forcibly threw me inside their car and whisked me off," the transgender woman told police.

"They cut my hair and snatched my mobile phone. They also raped me" in the car, she claimed. "They let go of me near Chughal Pura and left me there."

Members of the marginalised transgender community are often targeted by criminals across Pakistan and especially in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

In September this year, some unidentified men opened fire on two transgender individuals, killing one and wounding the other in Peshawar's Palosi neighbourhood.

According to the president of transgender rights group TransAction Alliance Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Farzana Ilyas, in the last four or five years, more than 500 transgender individuals have been raped and 68 murdered since 2015.