A 28-year-old lady constable from Beed district in Marathwada region on Thursday moved the Bombay High Court seeking a direction to the Maharashtra’s Director General of Police (DGP) to grant leave of absence for a month to undergo sex change.
In a public interest litigation filed through her lawyer Syed Ejaz Abbas Naqvi, the petitioner Lalita Kumari Salve — who has changed her name as Lalit Kumar Salve through a noterised affidavit — urged the court to stay the letter written by the State DGP rejecting her request to undergo Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) and direct the latter to grant her one month’s leave to undergo SRS.
Salve’s lawyer Naqvi on Thursday mentioned the PIL before a HC division bench headed by Chief Justice Manjula Chellur, who said that the plea would have to be heard by the appropriate bench. Naqvi is expected to mention the petition before a division bench headed by Justice SM Kemkar on Friday.
In her PIL, the petitioner stated that she enjoyed the fundamental right to lead a “meaningful life” and that the letter dated November 20, 2017 written by State DGP was ultra vires to the Article 21 of the Constitution.
In one of grounds cited for undergoing SRS, the petitioner stated: “As per the medical test vide Karyotyping by G- Banding peripheral blood the Petitioners genes are abundantly presence with having Y Chromosomes (male karyotype). These chromosomes are found in males genes”.
“In absence of enactment of law regarding medication and sexual surgery pertaining to interchange of unwanted generous hormones, court is empowered to issue necessary rules for uplifting right to dignity of petitioner,” Salve stated.
Salve was appointed as the police constable in Beed district in May 2010. In a local private laboratory test done on August 9, 2014, she was diagnosed with the presence of male genes in the karyotyping G-Banding Peripheral blood. On June 23, 2016, the petitioner again underwent a test in the medical department of the Sir Grant Medical Hospital in Mumbai which suggested “her” to be a male person. After the test, she was advised to undergo SRS for becoming a male as her hormonal imbalances tends towards male.
Immediately afterwards, she went to Masina Hospital in Mumbai as a follow-up on her plans to undergo SRS and was found physically “fit” to undergo sex change surgery.
Subsequently on September 29, 2017, Beed district superintendent of police wrote to her saying that her medical leave application was “strange” and was being considered at the DGP level.
“On November 20, 2p17, the respondent number one (DGP) my client’s plea to get medicated and attempted to block her move for undergoing plastic surgery,” Naqvi said.
Among other things, the petitioner stated that she wants to lead respectable life, that sexual preferences was part and parcel of rights to privacy of an individual which fell s under Fundamental Right to life and liberty as per Article 21 of Constitution, the respondents were erring and violating the Petitioner’s fundamental rights by not allowing her to reform her sexual preferences and that it was her fundamental right r to undergo required medical surgery imperative for her/his life.
“The gender disorder has occurred due to respondent’s distress etc and hence the Respondent number one will bear the expenses. The Rules of Maharashtra police constable recruitment is contrary and violative of the right to equality of opportunity as mentioned Article 14, 15, and 16 of the Constitution,” the petitioner stated.
The petition urged the high court to use its jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution to issue direction to both the State DGP and Beed’s Superintendent of Police “to carry out their duty towards the petitioner without any hindrance as per rules and norms mentioned in the Maharashtra Constable Recruitment Rules, 2006”.