At least 15 eunuchs were killed and 31 injured by a fire that ravaged the transgender community's national meeting in New Delhi Sunday, AFP reports.
Allegedly started by a short circuit, the fire spread through tents erected in the east of the city for the three-day gathering of thousands of transgender and intersex Indians, who prefer the term hijra to the more commonly known term "eunuch."
"We were serving tea to some activists from Haryana when the tent above our heads just exploded in flames," Swapna Kumari, was quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times.
Fire brigade officials said they pulled 14 charred bodies from the gutted tents. One person died on the way to the hospital.
On Monday, Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit announced a compensation of about $4000 each to the next of kin of those killed in the fire, the Hindustan Times said. The seriously injured will get about $1000 each, and those with minor injuries will receive about $100.
The Hindu reports that a police case has been registered against the event organizers.
The paper's sources said the organisers had not taken the requisite permission from fire brigade and police for holding the meeting. Other local reports highlighted the (typical) lack of safety measures taken for the large crowd, crammed into a small space.
In India and other parts of South Asia, Hijras -- some of whom are merely cross-dressers and some of whom have been castrated -- often live in communal dwellings and work under a local leader known as a guru to raise money. Along with prostitution, hijras demand money at weddings and birth ceremonies, a practice traditionally held as good luck.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/the-rice-bowl/eunuch-meeting-ravaged-fire-delhi
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