Kolkata: If you are born a man and is in love with a post-operative transsexual who has changed over from a male to a female, better check out the legal clauses before tying the knot or living together.
Be specially careful if your girlfriend has not completed at least 18 years after undergoing the sex change operation.
The Calcutta High Court recently witnessed a similar case, where Abhijit Pahari was charged with living together for two years with Manabi Banerjee, who claims to be just three years old.
Manabi, a professor at a district college in West Bengal, was born male as Somnath Banerjee. When Somnath attained the age of 37, he underwent a sex-change operation and became a girl. She assumed a new name, Manabi. A year after changing sex, Manabi met Abhijit and they started living together.
After two years, they were separated and Manabi filed harassment charges against Abhijit. Abhijit appealed for an anticipatory bail. His lawyer, Sudipta Moitra, contended that since Manabi was an adult and both went in for a consensual live-in relationship, Abhijit cannot be framed.
However, when the case came up for hearing at the Calcutta High Court recently, the public prosecutor, Ashimesh Goswami, argued that Manabi was a minor."
Although Manabi has actually attained the age of 40, she was a male (Somnath) for the first 37 years and as a woman Manabi is just three years old, which means that she is a minor," the public prosecutor argued.
As per law, living together with a minor below the age of 18 is illegal. The result: Abhijit's anticipatory bail application has been rejected.
