Now, I can see India is changing and Judiciary of this country is trying to be equal for all. They gave some benchmark judgement in the recent past. The Supreme Court slammed the Centre for delay in giving reservation to the transgender. Bench gave a series of directions for enforcement. Transgender persons’ right to decide their self-identified gender is also upheld.
Earlier also the Bench said: “Social justice does not mean equality before law on paper but translating the spirit of the Constitution, enshrined in the Preamble, the Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles of State Policy, into action, whose arms are long enough to bring within its reach and embrace this right of recognition to the transgenders which legitimately belongs to them.” Expressing its anguish at the plight of transgender, the Bench said: “Seldom, our society realizes or cares to realize the trauma, agony and pain which members of the transgender community undergo.” Nor did it appreciate their innate feelings, especially of those whose mind and body disowned their biological sex. “Our society often ridicules and abuses the transgender community and in public places like railway stations, bus stands, schools, workplaces, malls, theatres, hospitals, they are sidelined and treated as untouchables, forgetting the fact that the moral failure lies in the society’s unwillingness to contain or embrace different gender identities.”
The apex court has obliterated this line and drawn a fresh line where all can compete, flourish and garner a niche in this hostile society. Gender identity is one of the most fundamental aspects of life. Government is announcing many schemes and policies for girls and backward castes, but they ignored the fact that the transgender are also citizens of India and they must be provided equal opportunities to grow. Reservations for them in jobs and education are a big leap towards ensuring social justice.
However, safeguarding their dignity at public and working places requires a lot of collective maturity which needs to be nurtured consciously. Every citizen with humanity, conscience and concern can contribute for this. The Supreme Court has acted in a way conforming to humanity. The 3rd gender need much support from the society that can bring them to a level and then the real competition starts and begins to unfold with normal men and women.
I am happy and overwhelmed with the observations of Supreme Court bench, that the gender identity is one of the most fundamental aspects of life, which refers to a person’s intrinsic sense of being male, female or transsexual. The transgender, as a whole, face multiple forms of oppression in this country. Discrimination is so large and pronounced; especially in healthcare, employment and education leave aside social exclusion. Now, it is time for us to recognize the rights of them as a separate category and to extend and interpret the Constitution in such a manner which ensures a dignified life to them. Supreme Court judges said that all can be achieved if a beginning is made with the recognition of transgender as the third gender. By doing so, court is not only upholding the rule of law but also advancing justice to the class, so far deprived of their legitimate natural and constitutional rights. It is, therefore, the only just solution, which ensures justice not only to transgender but also to society as well. State governments are directed to grant legal recognition of their gender identity such as male, female or third gender.”
Court has directed the Centre and State governments to operate separate HIV Sero-surveillance Centres as transgenders faced several sexual health issues. The Centre and State governments should seriously address the problems being faced by them such as fear, shame, gender dysphoria, social pressure, depression, suicidal tendencies, social stigma, etc. and any insistence on Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) for declaring one’s gender is immoral and illegal.
The Centre and State governments should provide medical care to transgender in hospitals and also provide separate public toilets. The apex court, while ordering the Centre to grant reservation to transgender, maintained that lesbians, gays and bisexuals do not constitute to be a part of the third gender.
Only transgender are third gender. The question of reservation had come up in 2015 and Centre had sought clarification about who are covered under transgender category. Though well-known LGBT activists have welcomed the Supreme Court order on giving reservation to transgender community, they still feel that the apex court’s view is ambivalent.
Hats off to those who worked tirelessly to bring the third gender at par with others in the society. At the same time, there should also be focus on scientifically and medically to analyze the reasons for rise in transgender population from the point of hormonal changes at the stage of conception, pre-natal and post-natal stages. Substantial rise in transgender population to a greater extent, it is felt, would deprive the society of procreation and decrease the process of evolution. This analysis needs to be perceived and viewed not to the detrimental to the interest of transgenders but to find out the root cause of such proliferation in the third gender, factors that contribute and the remedies available to make them to have the conveniences of a normal male or female life.
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