After announcing their wedding, Kerala trans man and trans woman receive death threats

With just weeks to go for Kerala’s first wedding between a trans man and a trans woman, the happy couple are in a state of shock, after receiving death threats.

As reported by TNM and many other news organisations earlier, Aarav Appukuttan and Sukanyeah Krishna, decided to marry after being in a relationship for three years. Both of them had undergone a sex reassignment surgery recently and their decision to take their relationship to the next level was welcomed by many.

But it wasn’t just congratulatory messages that the couple received. They were also flooded with death threats and abuse from strangers on Facebook.

“The day we shared the news, many messages began popping up as comments for the news links as well in my inbox. Some six or seven people have threatened to kill us. There were many messages as well that were in abusive language,” Sukanyeah told TNM.

She also said, “Many people ridiculed me over the phone also. I don’t know what harm I did to these people.”

Sukanyeah, who works at a software firm in Bengaluru lodged a complaint with the Cyber Cell there. “They have been verifying the details and we were told that it will take a few more days to take action,” she said.

Although he supported Sukanyeah’s decision to file a complaint with the police, Aarav said he was not taking the threats seriously.

"I haven't taken it seriously. I have told Sukanyeah not to bother about it. One message was in English and the rest of them were in Manglish. However, Sukanyeah suggested to lodge a complaint to avoid any problems in the future" said Aarav.

What has hurt him, however, was the fact that not a single member of the transgender community supported them. "An organisation has initiated a crowdfunding for us to meet the expenses incurred for the surgery. Some from transgender community claimed that we announced the wedding to make money," he said.

21-year-old Sukanyeah and 46-year-old Aarav, who worked in the real estate sector in Dubai, are all set to marry in September though the wedding date is not finalized yet.  While Aarav’s family had supported his decision to marry, Sukanyeah faced some opposition from her parents, who eventually accepted her decision.

Aarav, who was born biologically female, and Sukanyeah, who was born biologically male, have both undergone sex reassignment surgeries recently. 

Following their surgeries, Aarav and Sukanyeah received documents with male and female respectively.