“Rescuing the reformable: NGO interventions, queer necropolitics, and the criminalization of hijra families in India”

Mainstream feminist discourse often frames families as harmful and violent, especially toward young cisgender women in the South. In India, NGOs (and the state) similarly posit that families of GNC hijras harm younger hijras; they increasingly criminalize hijra families. How is this criminalization related to the criminalization hijras historically faced? What systems shape the criminalization of hijra families by NGOs? Through a qualitative case study analysis (including 75+ interviews) of interactions between Dosti, a large NGO in Bangalore, and hijras, I show that: 1) colonial and contemporary forms of hijra criminalization share necropolitical foundations and, 2) contemporary criminalization is shaped by economic systems incentivizing NGOs to position themselves as protectors of marginalized groups. I find Dosti staff employ “pro-minority” criminalization intended to protect marginalized groups, drawing on rhetoric and narratives criminalizing older hijras. I examine this alongside colonial-era criminalization to show that notions of younger people's need for “rescue” and older hijras' incapability of “reform” are recurrent themes. While Dosti staffs' interventions may reduce violence some younger hijras face, they expose older hijras to increased structural (and police) violence. Thus, Dosti staff are complicit in shaping necropolitical “death worlds” inhabited by older hijras, who cannot rely on hijra support systems. Conflicts between hijras and Dosti reflect broader tensions between global NGO funding agendas and hijras' systems of care and livelihood. The criminalization of hijra practices and economic systems by Dosti staff can be understood as a necropolitical intervention exposing (especially older) hijras to increased state violence and structural precarity.