Many social media users condemned the statement made by the DGP and said that the officer is essentially telling girls to only marry as per their parents’ wish.

Moreover, although trans communities are particular about their chosen members, the Rights of Transgender Persons Act, 2019, does not recognise the community as “family” and further doesn’t legalise trans children, who often face abuse from their birth families, to stay with the community.

Last year, 18-year-old Zeenat Rafiq eloped from her house in Lahore to marry her classmate, Hassan Khan. Just a week after the incident, her mother Parveen Bibi invited her back home, promising her a wedding reception. And on her return, she was strangled, choked, tied and set on fire by her mother and brother. The […]