Consider accommodating transgender officer: Delhi High Court

A transgender Navy officer, who was ousted out of service for undergoing a sex change operation, on Monday knocked the doors of the Delhi High Court which asked the Centre to consider his plight and accommodate him for some alternative stream. 

A bench of Justices GS Sistani and V Kameswar Rao asked the Centre to think over the issue and come out with a solution considering the present case as“out of the box”.

“This falls in a special domain. Imagine if she had suppressed the information, then it would have been dangerous,” the bench said, adding, that she can be penalised for indiscipline but something could be done to accommodate her. 

Appearing for the Centre, Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain said that this is a matter of policy decision and the Navy is the best placed to see if they can accommodate the female sailor.

“Here the question is not about transgenders. Its a case of whether a woman can continue as a sailor,” Jain said. 

The court was hearing the petition filed by the transgender sailor posted onboard INS Eksila at Visakhapatnam. It said that the petitioner can give up his claim for the job of a sailor and may accept a clerical position so that the family, comprising aged parents, the individual’s wife, and child, need not suffer.

While hearing the plea, where the sailor had challenged an order of October 6, the bench said, “the mindset should change. In today’s situation, a medical condition like this cannot be suppressed.”

ASJ Jain informed the court that the petitioner has a history of indiscipline and at several instances, had been absent from duty without prior information. Hence, giving an alternative work would block a seat. 

The court, while stating that they would not get into the territory of the Navy, but ask them to consider the situation. 

In her plea, the petitioner had claimed that she was suffering from gender identity issues since 2011 and when she told her parents, they forced her to marry a woman.