Mysterious circumstances: Burnt remains of transgender person found

Friends insist Bijli was murdered; police reluctant to register FIR

ISLAMABAD: The burnt and mutilated remains of a transgender person were recovered on Tuesday from a green belt near Gungal bus stop along Islamabad Expressway.

The body of the deceased, identified as Falak Sher alias Almaroof Bijli, was later shifted to PIMS, where transgender persons had gathered to demand that the police register a case and arrest the culprits behind the “murder”.

Though they believed Bijli was killed, they were reluctant to name a suspect.

Moreover, the police also seemed reluctant to register an FIR. According to Assistant Sub-Inspector Muhammad Iqbal Bhutta said the deceased’s family lives in Bhawalnagar and only a postmortem can reveal if Bijli was murdered or not.

Iqbal added that it will be up to the legal heirs to decide whether or not to register an FIR. “We have informed the family, but so far, no one has contacted us to claim the body,” he said. The body was unidentifiable and seemed to be at least 10 days old, Iqbal said.

Bijli’s guru, Naseebo, told The Express Tribune that Bijli went missing 10 days back, and that they registered a complaint three days ago at Racecourse Police Station in Rawalpindi. The deceased was 30-years-old and was identified by other transgender persons based on her clothes.

Koral SHO Abid Ikram confirmed that the police had recovered the body of transgender person. The officer said that the deceased was from Bahawalnagar and was residing in Bakra Mandi, Rawalpindi. He said the cause of death could not be determined without a postmortem. He said that the deceased’s bother is expected to reach Islamabad tomorrow and the body will be handed over to him after a postmortem is completed.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 7^th, 2015.