Transgender Moves HC After Being Stuck In A Rut Over Change In Name, Gender In CBSE, DU Records

The Delhi High Court has issued notice to the Centre, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the Delhi University on the plea of a transgender challenging the guidelines for Public Notices for change of sex.

The petitioner moved court after her efforts to change her name and gender in CBSE records and that of Delhi University failed.

In the petition filed through advocate Yashraj Singh Deora, she said she routinely faces discrimination because of the incongruity in her self-acquired identity and the male identity given to her at birth, which came to be recorded in the CBSE certificates and DU records.

She said she made two applications to the Department of Publications for change of name and gender, but got stuck in a cycle as the guidelines of the CBSE say that request for such changes in its records would be entertained only if it is made before publication of the result, the petition said.

The university norms, on the other hand, say that for change of name and gender, the same need to be first altered in the records of the board.

The petition said the Department of Publications of the Centre requires that a sex reassignment surgery be undergone before change of name and gender.

She claimed that the Supreme Court, in 2014, had held that insistence on a sex reassignment surgery for declaring one’s gender was illegal and immoral.