linkSilpa is a 22-year-old transvestite from western Nepal. She is small and soft-spoken, and wears heavy makeup and a tight acrylic shirt. She chose the name Silpa because it means delicate and fragile. In September, as Silpa was leaving her apartment in Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, she says she was pulled into a police van, driven to a remote park and gang raped by 12 uniformed officers. Police violence against transvestites in Kathmandu is a growing problem, according to spokesmen for local advocacy organizations, who say it happens about once a week.
