{"id":1096,"date":"2025-08-01T05:51:05","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T05:51:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/?p=1096"},"modified":"2025-09-01T09:57:59","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T09:57:59","slug":"india-what-happens-when-the-margins-are-marginalised-mx-yashika-caste-and-the-crisis-within-indias-trans-movement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/india-what-happens-when-the-margins-are-marginalised-mx-yashika-caste-and-the-crisis-within-indias-trans-movement\/","title":{"rendered":"INDIA: What Happens When The Margins Are Marginalised? Mx. Yashika, Caste, And The Crisis Within India\u2019s Trans Movement"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mx. Yashika\u2019s story begins not with triumph, but with a tremor. One that cuts through the tattered jacket of solidarity in India\u2019s trans rights movement. A Dalit trans scholar from Saharanpur, she recently became the target of public, casteist allegations by none other than a senior member of the Uttar Pradesh Transgender Welfare Board, per a January 2025 report by The Probe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hindu reports, Devika Devendra S. Manglamukhi, alleged that Yashika had fraudulently obtained her caste and transgender identity certificates. These are claims which Yashika vehemently denies and has legally contested. The notice served by Yashika (with pro bono help from Chambers For Justice, a New Delhi-based law firm) demands not just a retraction, but reparations for a betrayal that feels as institutional as it is personal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCaste atrocities against Dalit trans and queer people were never even taken into consideration,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At stake here is more than one person\u2019s dignity. It\u2019s the erasure of Dalit trans voices from movements that claim to speak for all trans people. It\u2019s the reproduction of caste supremacy within LGBTQIA+ spaces that purport to be inclusive. And it\u2019s the heartbreak of being ghosted (not just by dominant-caste-led queer institutions) but also by platforms dedicated to Dalit rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Yashika puts it, \u201c[Most people] ignore Dalit trans issues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does the notice reveal?<\/strong>
On July 6, 2025, Devika posted on Instagram, alleging that Mx. Yashika had forged her Scheduled Caste and Transgender ID certificates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These accusations were echoed in news platforms like UP Tak and TNF Today (the latter has since been deleted but was referenced in the legal notice served by Yashika), claiming NHRC intervention, which the legal notice debunks as entirely fabricated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UP Tak report falsely stated: \u201cYashika (\u2026) has violated the rules and fraudulently got two certificates made for herself. One of these is a Scheduled Caste certificate, and the other is a Transgender Identity Card issued by the District Magistrate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recognise Dalit Trans And Queer Lives?<\/strong>
The article further insisted that trans persons should only be recognised under the OBC category as per a 2014 decision, thus implying that caste-based reservations are illegitimate for trans individuals. Such assertions not only misrepresent the NALSA judgment but also overlook the lived realities of caste and gender-based oppression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SDM Ankur Verma, cited in the same report, clarified that his office had received no formal complaint. Despite this, Devika allegedly weaponised WhatsApp groups like \u2018National Network of Trans\u2019 and \u2018Webline Transgender\u2019 to circulate defamatory content, including urging others to shame Yashika. The notice also claims Devika \u201cused and circulated photographs of [Yashika] without her consent, which constitutes a gross invasion of her privacy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over and above deadnaming her repeatedly, the screenshots from these groups reference Yashika\u2019s caste identity, her father\u2019s name, and calls to ostracise her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The legal notice that was issued was acted upon by Advocate Sourabh Rai of Chambers for Justice, who accused Devika of criminal defamation under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and of violating provisions under the SC\/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and the IT Act.
Devika has previously publicly targeted another Dalit trans activist. An April 2025 report by The News Minute says she had also levelled similar accusations against activist Grace Banu, another fierce advocate of horizontal reservation, at the Talkatora Police Station. She alleged that Grace had robbed and threatened her on December 22, 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The parallels are impossible to ignore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Transgender activists who advocate for horizontal reservation are among the other complainants listed by Devikai in her formal complaint. Ritwick Das, an activist based in Lucknow and Delhi, and Jane Kaushik, an activist based in Delhi, are among them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A pattern of casteism within queer spaces<\/strong>
Yashika is not new to exclusion. She tells FII that while pursuing an M.A. in Human Rights at Panjab University, Chandigarh, she was denied hostel access solely due to her gender identity. This was until a 2022 Punjab & Haryana High Court order forced the administration to comply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy family never helps me. I experienced gender exclusion from Dalit spaces as well as caste oppression among trans or cis people in the upper caste,\u201d she explains. The very institutions she turned to for protection replicate the same hierarchies she tried to escape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current attack, she alleges, stems from a long-standing disagreement over reservation policy. While Yashika and several Dalit trans activists advocate for horizontal reservations (recognising caste and gender identity as overlapping systems of oppression), Devika has publicly argued that all trans persons should not be categorised under SC\/ST\/OBC on the WhatsApp group named National Network of Trans.
Yashika believes this erases the unique oppression faced by Dalit trans individuals and flattens the community into a monolith. The structural vulnerability deepens these wounds. \u201cI never had family support. I faced intentional and systematic exclusion,\u201d Yashika says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even in queer spaces, caste determines who gets platformed and who gets policed. In Uttar Pradesh, she adds, \u201cDalit trans persons are living in fear, which is why they don\u2019t come out openly in Uttar Pradesh,\u201d due to fear of harassment from both the state and dominant-caste queer groups. \u201cI feel very unsafe due to casteism and misgendering.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where is our media?<\/strong>
The silence around Yashika\u2019s case is deafening. Despite the clear legal record and digital evidence of defamation, several well-known platforms (including those focusing on Dalit rights) have refused to cover her story. \u201cSome promised they would and ghosted me,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The media\u2019s silence only shows their underlying discomfort with intersectionality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dalit trans persons often find themselves erased from both the Dalit movement (which tends to be cis-heteronormative) and the queer movement (dominated by upper-caste voices). \u201cThey ignored our visibility and alienated us,\u201d Yashika says. \u201cThere is no Dalit liberation without the appropriation and inclusion of Dalit trans persons in the Dalit movement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dalit Queer India, a collective Yashika is in conversation, affirmed her experience. \u201cThey told me they\u2019ve faced the same,\u201d she recalls. \u201cThey said the only way forward is to create our own media spaces. The world doesn\u2019t want us to exist, so we have to write our own histories.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a country where Savarna narratives dominate even within activist spaces, such calls to build autonomous platforms are revolutionary and necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the middle of this storm, Yashika managed to achieve something monumental. In June 2025, she qualified for the UGC-NET, earning eligibility to be an Assistant Professor. \u201cIt means a lot,\u201d she says, her voice breaking. \u201cI want to thank Babasaheb Ambedkar and Buddha. I recall Ambedkar once said: Those who don\u2019t know history, don\u2019t make history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not just a personal milestone but a political statement. It asserts the right of Dalit trans persons to participate in public life, academia, and governance. It stands in direct contrast to the degrading \u2018good trans person\u2019 narrative being pushed by Devika and her allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mx Yashika is also part of a broader national demand: the implementation of horizontal reservation for trans persons in public education and employment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Dalit trans community all over India demanded to implement horizontal reservation for transgender persons in educational institutions and public employment, especially in Uttar Pradesh,\u201d she says. \u201cI want to tell the Union Government to consider horizontal recognition of trans persons along with their caste identity in the upcoming caste census.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the trans movement hurts its own<\/strong>
The pain in Mx. Yashika\u2019s voice isn\u2019t just from this smear campaign. It\u2019s from being betrayed by movements she\u2019s worked tirelessly to uplift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This isn\u2019t the first time Devika has targeted Dalit trans activists, and it likely won\u2019t be the last unless accountability is demanded. That a senior welfare board member can allegedly defame a vulnerable trans-Dalit woman without due process should alarm us all.
Yashika\u2019s story is not just hers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s about what happens when the margins are marginalised again, by the very movements meant to protect them. When gatekeeping replaces solidarity, when institutional power is wielded not for advocacy but for personal vendettas, the movement fails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Queer and Dalit spaces must do better. They must commit to intersectionality not as a buzzword but as a practice. And they must make room for our Yashikas all over the world\u2026not just in times of triumph, but especially in moments of trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: Feminism in India<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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