Thanks to Madras HC, TN to get its first transgender Police Inspector [Read Order]

There are two other transgenders serving as police constables and the petitioner would be really the third one. The social impact of such recruitment cannot be lost sight of, which would give strength to the case of transgenders, the Court said while holding Prithika, entitled to be recruited to SI post.

Madras HC cleared the hurdles in way of Prithika Yashni by holding that the she is entitled to be recruited to the post of Sub Inspector Police. The first bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana also directed the recruiting agency to include third gender as a separate category .

Prithika Yashni was a male named K. Pradeep Kumar, who a few years ago, noticed some changes in himself, and realized that he was not a normal male, but had female characteristics in her genes. His parents found it difficult to accept this situation and he had to leave the house and to go through a sex re-assignment surgery in Chennai. He was issued a certificate as transgender by the State Government. She then applied for Sub Inspector post test and in physical endurance test she failed to meet the requirement of 100 metres run by 1.11 seconds, which is the bench mark for females.

Taking note of the discrimination suffered by the transgender community, the Court said: The present case is one where the petitioner was categorized as man, though she was a female. She had undergone sufferance of an exit from her house without parental protection. It is in these difficult circumstances that the petitioner has been endeavoring to eke out a living.

The Court also said that in the physical endurance test, a difference of 1.11 seconds should come in the way of the petitioner in being considered for recruitment. The court also said that social impact of such recruitment cannot be lost sight of, which would give strength to the case of transgender community. The petitioner must reach the finishing line and not be stopped and disqualified in the middle, the bench remarked. The Court also expressed its hope that she would carry out the duties with dedication and commitment to advance the cause of other transgender. The court also asked the recruiting agency of the state to take corrective measures for including the third gender as a category.

Read the order here.