Jhansi: More than half a dozen transgender persons staged a protest outside the SSP office near the Police Lines area on Saturday evening, disrupting traffic for nearly an hour. During the protest, they allegedly removed their clothes, used abusive language and got into altercations with passers-by.Five of the accused were subsequently arrested and produced before a remand magistrate on Sunday.According to police, the protest stemmed from a long-standing dispute between two groups of transgender persons over the distribution of areas where they operate. The two groups have clashed on several occasions in the past.On Saturday evening, members of both groups gathered near Police Lines and began protesting on the road during peak traffic hours. The protesters were seen pulling down their clothes, running on the road, raising slogans against the police and using abusive language. They later blocked both sides of the road with police barricades, bringing traffic to a halt. They also got into altercations with commuters, while police personnel struggled to bring the situation under control.At the time of the protest, a high-level crime review meeting was underway at the office of the senior superintendent of police (SSP).SP City Preeti Singh said the arrested accused were identified as Anshika alias Abhishek, a leader of one of the groups; her mother, Mamta; Russian Kinner; Pooja; and Balbir alias Babli. All five have been booked under Sections 151(2), 285, 296, 293, 121(1), 132, 221 and 223 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
