In a rare legal move, police have arrested four hijras on the charges of extortion for demanding money from two couples in Dhaka's Uttara area who were recently blessed with two daughters.
The arrestees are: Alo (28), Sharmin (23), Mim (30) and Ruma (25), said Mohammad Mohsin, officer-in-charge of Uttara West Police Station, reports The Daily Star.
The OC said a tenant of a building in Uttare Sector-9 was blessed with a daughter on August 6 while another tenant of the same building had a daughter two months ago.
The four members of the transgender community on Sunday went to the families and demanded Tk 20,000 from the families of the newborns, failing to pay which, they threatened to take away the babies, he said.
At one point, one of families gave them Tk 3,000. But they started kicking their front door, and shouting. On information, police rushed to the spot and arrested them, the OC said.
A case was field with the police in this regard, he said.
People of the hijra community are usually neglected in the country. They are often seen extorting money even during broad daylight.
Officially, there are 10,000 hijras in Bangladesh, according to a survey of the Department of Social Services.
However, several private organizations, that are working to protect the rights of the hijra community, estimated that there could be more than 50,000 hijras in the country.
