After sex-change, Lalita reports to duty as cop Lalit

Nearly a month after undergoing a sex reassignment surgery (SRS) at the State-run St George’s Hospital here, the erstwhile 29-year-old female police constable Lalita Kumari Salve on Tuesday reported to duty as Lalit Kumar Salve in Maharashtra's Beed district. 

Dressed smartly in khakhi uniform and a blue beret, a confident Lalit Salve reported to Senior Inspector of Police Raju Talekar, head of the Majalgaon police station in Beed district in Marathwada region of Maharashtra.

Erstwhile Lalita’s is the first case of a sex-change surgery in the police history of the country.

Talking to media persons after reporting to duty, Lalit said: "It’s like a new birth for me. My life has changed after my sex change surgery. It’s a big day for me and my family…..I cannot describe the feelings… I am confident now...I will now be getting a new cap meant for male constables".

On May 25, Lalita Kumari underwent the first stage of her much-discussed sex reassignment surgery (SRS) at the St. George’s Hospital in Mumbai. She was discharged from the hospital on June 12.  

Lalit, now a male constable, will undergo the second part of the sex change surgery after six months.

During the first stage of surgery, the doctors carried out some internal corrections that would facilitate Lalita to urinate like a man.  The second stage of surgery will involve constructing male genitalia.

Lalita’s was the first such “complex and ultra-sensitive” sex change surgery conducted on an adult person, at the St George’s Hospital.

Lalita’s dream of turning into a man four years after she was recruited as a police constable in Beed district of Maharashtra in May 2010. In a local private laboratory test done on her on August 9, 2014, she was diagnosed with the presence of male genes in the karyotyping G-Banding Peripheral blood. The tests revealed that she genetically mate with XY chromosomes.  

On June 23, 2016, Lalita once again underwent a test in the medical department of the Sir Grant Medical Hospital in Mumbai which suggested “her” to be a male person.