Rajasthan HC orders transgender to be identified as male after sex reassignment surgery

The ruling came on a petitioner by a transgender who wanted to be identified as a male in his service records after undergoing a reassignment surgery.

Author Ashok Bagriya

Upholding the right of a transgender person to be identified as a “male” who had undergone sex reassignment surgery, the Rajasthan High Court has said, “The right of a human being to choose his/her sex or gender identity is integral to his or her personality and is one of the most basic aspects of self-determination, dignity and freedom”.

Justice Anoop Kumar Dhand held that “till the past, we used to consider male and female as two biological sex but the developed science has proved that there are more genders than just cisgender” and trans-genders need to be treated equally.

The judgment of the court comes on a petition of a person who was born as a female and employed as a physical training instructor in a school. He wanted to be identified as a male in his service records after undergoing a reassignment surgery.

The petitioner had claimed that he was suffering from gender identity disorder, and to correct it underwent a gender reassignment surgery to become a male from a female.

The petitioner after the surgery even had two children from his marriage and identified himself as a male but the school authorities refused to change his gender.

Quoting from the ancient Hindu text, Rigveda, Justice Dhand said “According to the Rigveda, in Hindu mythology, three types of genders have been considered – the Male, that is the ‘Purush’, the female that is the ‘Prakriti’ and the third gender that is the ‘Tritiya Prakriti’.

“In recent times, modern Indian society has considered them as the third gender otherwise there was no such identity given to them legally. Still, all is not well, and the third gender people are struggling to constitute a part of the civil society,” the judge said.

The High Court has directed the authorities to change the gender of the petitioner in service records within 60 days and also directed the chief secretary of Rajasthan to set up a Grievance Redressal Mechanism Forum in each district of the state to deal with the complaints relating to violation of the Transgender Act.

According to the Transgenders Act 2019, a transgender person has a right to be recognised not only as a transgender and also grants them the right of self-perceived gender identity.

Courtesy : News Nine

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