India’s eunuchs mourn 15 dead

Friends mourned the lives of 15 eunuchs, or hijra, on Monday after a fire ravished a tent where thousands had gathered Sunday night in New Delhi.

The community of eunuchs was gathered to pay their respects to deceased friends when the fire broke out. The fire, which is being investigated, is thought to have started by an electrical short. The AP reported that 15 people were killed and another 36 were injured in the frenzied race to safety.

“The older hijras got hurt in the running and panic,” said a eunuch named Babli, who was quoted by the AP.

Babli later stated, “…the fire brigade took an hour to reach here. By that time so many of our friends were dead.”

The fire brigade, however, said that it arrived as soon as it could.

GlobalPost's Jason Overdorf writes,

"The Hindu reports that a police case has been registered against the event organizers.

The paper's sources said the organizers had not taken the requisite permission from fire brigade and police for holding the meeting. Other local reports highlighted the (typical) lack of safety measures taken for the large crowd, crammed into a small space."

A group of eunuchs was later allowed to visit the site of the fire to search for belongings, while others waited to hear news from friends.

Eunuchs are a community of people, usually born of the male gender, who consider themselves neither male nor female but members of a third sex. The term hijra is usually used in a derogatory fashion and most members live in isolated, exclusively hijra communities.

Although living at the margins of society, eunuchs perform important rituals and prayers thought to be extremely powerful. Eunuchs are paid to bless newborn male babies and to dance at weddings. They have a long history, dating as far back as the ancient Kama Sutra text.