In a shocking piece of news, a young transgender woman in the Salem district of Tamil Nadu was brutally beaten to death and it has now come to the revelation that she was murdered by her own mother, who hired goons to finish her plot of killing her transgender daughter, for being a transgender. The awful incident had showcased the violence endured by the transgender community across the state and their plight to live freely and peacefully. 

19-year-old Akshita was a transgender woman living in Salem. On December 13, she was beaten into an unconscious state, while she was sleeping in her house. She had reportedly lost an enormous amount of blood and had suffered fatal injuries with her bones broken. On December 14, a day later, she has passed away. The police had launched a probe into her death and ten days after her demise, her own mother is now standing as a culprit before the law. 

According to reports, Akshita's mother Uma Devi (45) has planned to kill the former as she was a transgender. Uma Devi had hired a group of hooligans to murder Akshita and the mob had beaten her while she was asleep and left her in a pool of blood. The police have now arrested Uma Devi and five men who had murdered the transwoman. A case has been filed against them under section 302- murder of the Indian Penal Code. 

Following the arrest, they were taken into judicial custody for further investigations. The investigations had exhumed how Uma Devi had planned an attack on the ground that the society wouldn't accept her identity. Uma Devi had earlier referred to Akshita as a boy. In July 2021, the Suramangalam police in Salem had received a complaint from Uma Devi that her only son was missing. Following the investigation, the police found out that the missing son was a transwoman Akshita and she was staying in Bengaluru after she faced discrimination from her family. 

According to The News Minute, the Inspector of Suramangalam Police Station, Sivakumar, who probed the case, has said that Akshita didn't want to come back home and said she was facing discrimination from her family including her mother Uma Devi. She was staying with a transgender community in Bengaluru and in the albeit of the fact that she is an adult, the police had filed an FIR based on Uma Devi's complaint and produced Akshita before a court.

Sivakumar further said that Akshita is an adult and she has a right to live alone. However, based on her mother's missing complaint, the police had filed an FIR and she was brought back to Salem and produced before the District Magistrate. After the trial, the magistrate has said that she can live wherever she wants as Akshita is a major and need not live with her biological family. Following the trial, Akshita had gone to Bengaluru again after expressing that she is not willing to reside with her mother Uma Devi. 

On the other hand, Uma Devi was not leaving her daughter by her wish and she wished to bring Akshita back home and to take her for conversion therapy. Showing that she can't able to accept her daughter's transwoman identity, Uma Devi had wished to take her to Villupuram to undergo hormone treatment. Uma Devi had tried to convince Akshita to come home, but Akshita had been refusing to return home and live with her. 

After repeated attempts, Uma Devi finally won in bringing her daughter back to Salem through an emotional appeal. Akshita came to her home in Salem during the Diwali festival and was staying with Uma Devi. Akshita's identity and her behaviour had disturbed Uma Devi and the reports say that Akshita was roaming around the town during the night hours and Uma Devi had worried what people would say about her daughter Akshita's behaviour. Due to societal stigma, Uma Devi had planned to do something to stop Akshita from stepping out of the house.

Uma Devi approached 46-year-old Venkatesh, who runs a hotel, and sought his help for her plan of closing doors for Akshita. Venkatesh had brought his friend 40-year-old Kamaraj to look for ideas to make Akshita stay at home. Kamaraj had then hired three others - Sanjay, Sivakumar, and Karthikeyan and they made a plan against Akshita. Uma Devi had asked them to threaten and beat up Akshita to ensure that she doesn't exit the house. On December 13, three men had entered Uma Devi's residence at night and they had beaten Akshita, who was sleeping. 

The men had hit her on the legs and hands and they fractured her limbs. After the attack, the mob left the home and Uma Devi came in to see how her plan was executed. After witnessing that her daughter had suffered brutal injuries and gone unconscious, Uma Devi took Akshita to a private hospital in a critical condition. She was then taken to the Salem Government Medical College and Hospital, where Akshita breathed her last on December 14. Nearly ten days after Akshita's demise, the police had found out that Uma Devi is the main accused and they had arrested her and five other men for brutally beating and murdering a transwoman.