Splitsvilla 8 contestant Gaurav Arora, who now identifies as a transgender and is referred to as Gauri Arora gave a heartfelt interview to Hindustan Times. In the interview, she spoke at length about embracing her feminine identity despite being born a man and being drawn to her mother’s and sister’s clothes and make-up. But the bravest part of the interview was when she revealed she had been raped when she was 11 years old.
I was blamed then, that it occurred because I dressed like a girl. These were boys from my tuition class who were about six or seven years older than me. One day at the park, they got me to stay late and talked to me affectionately. Initially, I was revelling in the attention from the big boys. Maybe it was my innate attraction towards boys, which I am aware of now, but I was very innocent at the time. Before I knew it, they were caressing and kissing then manhandling me and molesting me and I was in pain. I knew this was wrong although I didn’t know exactly how.
She then said how her mother dissuaded her from telling her dad about this incident, but that didn’t stop her. Her father then called the cops and took her to the class to confront the boys. Everyone in the area came to know of it and they’d laugh at her wherever she went.
Because I was different, it was as though I had asked for it.
This was really brave of her. You can read the entire interview here.