A trans-identified male in India has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after brutally raping an 8-year-old girl. Farin Kinar reportedly tried to claim his transgender identity made it “impossible” for him to have raped the child.
The sexual assault occurred in March of 2022 in the city of Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh. The child had visited the home of Kinar’s aunt to watch television, but was soon targeted by the man who led her to his own nearby residence. Kinar’s exact age is unknown, and he has been reported as being between 20 and 30 years of age.
When the girl returned to her mother, she was experiencing vaginal bleeding and had to be rushed to the hospital, where she was admitted and spent 10 days in treatment. During an interview with police, the girl revealed that Kinar had threatened her against speaking out about what happened.
According to the Times of India, Kinar was arrested on June 22, and booked on charges of “rape on a woman less than 12 years of age” and criminal intimidation.
In a bizarre turn, Kinar’s defense lawyer attempted to argue in court that Kinar was “female transgender by birth and cannot commit rape,” adding that his gender identity made it impossible for him to have committed the assault. The court then ordered Kinar to undertake a sex test, demonstrating he was biologically male.
During final proceedings on Monday, Special Judge Umashankar Khar found Kinar guilty based on both DNA evidence and victim testimony, and sentenced him to 20 years imprisonment. Kinar was also ordered to pay a fine of 12,000 rupees (approx. $140 USD) to his victim.
While limited details on the case have been made available, likely in part due to the young age of the victim, it is speculated that Kinar may belong to the “Hijra” subculture. While initially defined as a “third gender” in India, Hijra have increasingly been referred to as “transgender” both locally and in news reports.
Hijra are primarily characterized by the development of their feminine identity through their sexual receptiveness to men as well as a castration ceremony that some, but not all, undertake. Hijra wear stereotypically feminine clothes, and often leave their families to join fictive kinship hierarchies with other Hijra, many of which are criminal gangs.
In some regions of India, Hijra were traditionally invited to bless new born children in exchange for gifts and money. But the tradition has been declining in recent years, while Hijra participation in crime, particularly sex trafficking and child abuse, has skyrocketed over the past decade.
As previously reported by Reduxx in February, a trans-identified male was sentenced to death after a Mumbai court convicted him of raping a three-month old infant. The perpetrator, who did openly identify as a Hijra, abducted the baby girl, sexually tormented her, and murdered her in an act of vengeance against the family for not offering him a customary money gift, or “badhai,” after the child’s birth.