“By the end of this year, I realised people were looking at me beyond the transgender tag. Today, I am not a ‘transgender assistant’. I am just a cop, and that acceptance healed years of hurt.” That reflection from Shiva Ram captures what 2025 came to mean for dozens of lives across Hyderabad, a year in which policing extended beyond enforcement and reshaped everyday realities through dignity, inclusion and trust.
Shiva Ram regulating traffic at the bustling JBS junction as part of the Telangana Police’s maiden initiative to induct transgender persons into its traffic force.
| Photo Credit:
The Hindu
Once confined to his home and nearly forced by his family into marrying an older man, Shiva Ram now spends his days regulating traffic at the JBS junction part of the Telangana Police’s maiden initiative to induct transgender persons into its traffic force. Looking back, he says the most profound change was how the uniform became a new identity, one that slowly replaced doubt with acceptance.
That change is most evident on his journey home from Secunderabad to Uppal after duty. “People salute me. Neighbours and shopkeepers say, ‘The traffic cop is here,’” he says. “They’ve seen me in uniform for a year now and accepted me that way. It’s a moment of pride every single day.”
K Srivalli, who joined the force alongside Shiva Ram, describes the year as a return to self-worth. Before her induction, survival meant begging and sex work at traffic signals where people deliberately looked away. Today, she stands at those same junctions in uniform, directing traffic with authority. “This year has been a wonderful comeback for me,” she says. “I used to feel invisible. Now people wait for my signal.”
K Srivalli guiding a motorist to wear helmet while driving at a busy junction in Mahankali
| Photo Credit:
The Hindu
For Srivalli, the most significant change was internal. The job encouraged her to resume her education through Dr. Ambedkar Open University, and she now thinks about a future without hesitation.
The impact of the initiative has extended beyond individual journeys. With other civic departments preparing to induct transgender employees and Cyberabad deploying transgender traffic assistants, the experiment has begun to normalise inclusion within public systems long resistant to change.
In a similar bid to encourage reintegration and reduce stigma, the Rachakonda Police deployed reformed history-sheeters as traffic volunteers at busy junctions, offering them a structured second chance through visible public service and daily interaction with commuters.
A total of 60 reformed rowdy sheeters have been deployed as traffic volunteers for managing traffic at major junctions like Uppal, LB Nagar, and ECIL alongside the Rachakonda traffic police officials.
| Photo Credit:
By Arrangement
Another initiative where Telangana emerged as a first mover was the allotment of 2BHK homes to atrocity victims under the Indiramma Indlu housing scheme. For survivors, the house represented far more than shelter.
Sonal, who dropped out of engineering after surviving sexual assault, says the year helped her close chapters she once believed would define her forever. In 2025, she cleared the Telangana Law Common Entrance Test, enrolled in an LLB through distance education, found work as a teacher, married, and moved into her own home. “I didn’t know healing could look like this. Having a safe place made everything else fall into place,” she says.
View of the 2BHK Dignity Housing township in Kollur village in R.C.Puram Mandal in Sangareddy District
| Photo Credit:
NAGARA GOPAL
For Kumari Hema, a 32-year-old mother, the year ended a long cycle of uncertainty. After being repeatedly asked to vacate rented homes once her past became known, she finally received a house of her own under the scheme. “I lived in fear of the next eviction. Now my child and I know where we belong,” she says.
At the community level, initiatives such as Vruddhulu Samrakshana in Hyderabad’s North Zone quietly reshaped daily life for over 750 elderly citizens living alone. Regular police visits reduced isolation, fear and vulnerability to fraud, leaving them with a sense of reassurance.
An officer from the North Zone talking to one of the senior citizens living by himself during the visit.
| Photo Credit:
By Arrangement
Meanwhile, programmes such as Sanghamitra, Margadarshak and Project Safe Stay strengthened safety frameworks for women and working professionals across Cyberabad, particularly in the IT corridor.
Published – December 25, 2025 07:13 pm IST
