The fight between Shivy and his parents started in mid-June this year when he wanted to cut his hair short but his conservative Indian-American parents were completely against it. It was because nineteen-year-old Shivani Bhatt, who prefers to be called by Shivy, was born female but identifies as male.
The fight got so violent, that Shivy claims that his mother abused him verbally and physically, confiscated his phone and forcefully unlocked it. It was then that his parents found out that Shivy was transgender.
"They took away my mobile phone and laptop even while we were in America, but I still never imagined then that our annual holiday to India in July would have any other motive," Shivy told the BBC.
According to the video that Shivy has uploaded on NGO Nazariya's, YouTube channel, his parents allegedly coerced him into coming to India with them under the pretense of a family holiday, since after the haircut incident, Shivy had moved out of his parents' house.
Shivy alleged that his parents took away all his documents — passport, green card and even his birth certificate — for "travel purposes".
In Agra, at his family house, Shivy alleges that his parents were forcing him into marrying a man and were trying to "fix" him. "It was completely suffocating, my every movement was being monitored," he says in the video, clearly on the verge of tears.
When Shivy's mother and his brothers went back to the US, he managed to get back his phone and run away from the house to Delhi, where the NGO Nazariya offered to help him. "I finally feel safe here," he says in the video.
The Neurobiology student, who is stugying in the University of California, Davis, with help from his lawyers moved to Delhi High Court seeking protection from harassment, intimidation and coercion and asked his parents to return him his passport and green card. In a remarkable judgement, the judge granted him and his friends protection from any harassment by the police.
The order from the Delhi High Court was communicated to his parents who have acknowledged receiving the order.
But according to Shivy as well as media reports, the police, inspite of this order are still harassing the activists involved in this case.
The video uploaded by Shivy, is clearly a plea for help, a way to communicate his true feeling and way to clear any questions.
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