A male who identifies as a “woman” has been convicted in relation to the 2016 rape of a teenage boy in the Indian city of Thiruvananthapuram.
Sachu Samson, 34, has been found guilty of raping a 16-year-old boy nearly seven years after the incident took place on February 23, 2016. Samson was handed a seven-year prison sentence and 25,000 Rupee (approx. $300 USD) fine for the crime by the Fast Track Special Court of Kerala. The fine is set to be paid as compensation directly to the victim, and Samson risks an additional year in prison if he defaults.
During a hearing on February 7, prosecution told the court that the rape had taken place in a public restroom at a train station. The victim testified that Samson had threatened him and forced him into the closed area. The boy was then subjected to what was described as “unnatural sexual harassment.” Samson obtained the boy’s phone number at some point during the ordeal and contacted him repeatedly following the rape, demanding that the two meet again.
Under threat of “torture,” the victim did not inform his family of his ordeal. It was not until the teen’s mother began to notice her son acting strangely that Samson’s harassment of the boy was uncovered. The prosecution noted that the mother had “noticed that [her] child was constantly sending messages on the phone, and that the child was often afraid.”
Even after the teen attempted to block his assailant, Samson continued to find means of contacting him through social media. Eventually, the boy’s mother uncovered the Facebook messages Samson had sent to her son and contacted local police to file a report. Police worked with her successfully to “set a trap,” prompting the mother to message Samson and agree to another meeting, which led to his arrest.
Samson’s legal defense had reportedly attempted to use his “transgender” identity to argue his innocence, claiming he was now known as “Shefina” and had undergone “gender affirming medical procedures.” A medical certificate was used as evidence of Samson’s “Gender Affirmative Medical Intervention.”
During cross-examination, the victim stated that while Samson’s appearance and name have now changed, he was still the one who assaulted him and had been “a male person at the time.”
One doctor who stood as a witness confirmed that there was no evidence to suggest that Samson’s “gender identity” would have deemed him incapable of committing the sex crime against the minor. The court took the victim and doctor’s statements into consideration when rejecting the defense’s argument that Samson “had been a trans woman all along,” and couldn’t have committed the rape.
Samson will be detained in a women’s prison until transferred to a “special jail for transgender convicts,” according to Indian legal news outlet, Bar and Bench.
The Director of General Police was told by the Kerala court to make special arrangements for Samson, now referred to as “Shefina,” to safeguard “the dignity and honor of the accused… while she [sic] is detained at the women’s prison.”
The region of Kerala, where the assault was committed, is known as being one of the most “transgender-friendly” places in India.
Indian media covering the case have largely utilized “she/her” pronouns to refer to the rapist, referring to him as a “woman” or “trans woman.”
Vaishnavi Sundar, an independent filmmaker, writer, and women’s rights activist, responded to the inaccurate reporting and directed pointed criticism at Bar and Bench, writing that they were “capitulating” to gender ideology “by constantly addressing a male with female pronouns.”
Regarding the conviction of Sachu Samson, Sundar noted that the Judge’s order for the police to safeguard the “dignity and honor” of Samson while he is detained in a women’s prison meant disregarding female prisoners’ same dignity and honor. Sundar shared that female prisoners “are 20 times more likely to die by suicide and suffer with suicidal tendencies than women of the same age in the general population.”
In addition to her independent work, Sundar is also the Indian contact for Women’s Declaration International, a global organization of volunteers dedicated to defending women and girls’ sex-based rights.
In April 2022, Sundar covered the Delhi High Court’s passing of an order to implement “self-identification” terms for changing sex markers on passports. The ruling officially decreed that no medical intervention would be required for an individual to identify as the opposite sex, or change their legal documents. The Court called it “unnecessary and violative of the choice of the individual with respect to undergoing a surgical procedure to reflect the transition.”
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