India's only transgender political candidate goes missing, prompting kidnap fears

'The manner in which this case is handled will either serve to strengthen or weaken the trust the Indian LGBTQ+ community has in the state', says advocacy group

Chandramukhi Muvvala greets voters as she campaigns in the Goshamahal constituency in Hyderabad (NOAH SEELAM/AFP/Getty Images)

India’s only transgender political candidate has gone missing, police said, prompting fears she was kidnapped on her second day of campaigning in state elections.

Chandramukhi Muvvala disappeared minutes after she left her one-room home in an informal settlement in Hyderabad, police in the central Indian city said.

“We have registered a complaint of missing person. We are trying to trace her,” Kanneboina Uday, the investigating officer in the case said.

Ms Muvvala is an activist with the Telangana Hijra Intersex Transgender Samiti, a local advocacy group for hijras – or transgender women – which campaigns against transphobic violence.

There are around two million transgender people in India, according to the 2011 census.

Although the Supreme Court ruled transgender people have equal rights under the law in 2014, they are often shunned and many survive by begging or through sex work.

“We are very worried about her safety,” Bittu Karthik, a member of Telangana Hijra Intersex Transgender Samiti, said after Ms Muvvala went missing on Tuesday. “There is disproportionate amount of violence against transgender people and as an electoral candidate, we fear physical violence can be used.”

Police said they had deployed special teams to find Ms Muvvala after a local court ordered them to produce her in court by Thursday morning.

The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, a New Delhi-based advocacy group, said it was worried about speculation Ms Muvvala had been kidnapped.

“If fears of Chandramukhi’s kidnapping are well-founded, this is a serious attack on the right of Indian citizens to safety and security, as well as the welfare of the already fragile transgender community,” it said.

“The manner in which this case is handled will either serve to strengthen or weaken the trust the Indian LGBTQ+ community has in the state.”

Telangana’s state elections are due to be held on 7 December.

Additional reporting by Thomson Reuters Foundation