Kerala High Court rules in favour of transgender woman wanting to join NCC

The Kerala High Court on Monday ruled in favour of a transgender woman who sorted the court's intervention for admission into the National Cadet Corps, the youth wing of the Indian armed forces. In its ruling, the court said that the fact that the NCC act does not recognize the third gender cannot be a reasonable justification to deny entry to a trans person. 

The High Court was hearing a petition filed by Heena Haneefa, challenging a section of the NCC act that only allowed males and females to enrol with the cadet corps. The judgment was delivered by Justice Anu Sivaraman in the petition moved by the transwoman, Hina Haneefa challenging Section 6 of the National Cadet Corps Act, 1948.

Haneefa had applied for entry on the basis of her self-perceived gender - as per her, female category, since the NCC did not have provision for the third gender.

The single bench of Justice Anu Sivaraman said the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, recognises a transgender person's right to self-perceived gender identity. "In view of the specific provisions of the 2019 act, a transgender person has the right to be recognised not only as a transgender but also a right to self-perceived gender, i.e. the female gender," Sivaraman was quoted as saying by LiveLaw.

"The denial of enrolment is unsustainable. The petitioner will be entitled to participate in the selection process on the basis of her application. If she is successful, the petitioner will be enrolled in NCC Unit," Sivaraman was quoted as saying by LiveLaw.

The court also directed the NCC to amend its enrolment criteria and allow the provision to include transgender persons as eligible for seeking admission in the cadet corps. Necessary changes to the enrolment criteria must be made within six months, the court held.

The petitioner who was assigned male gender at birth had undergone two sex reassignment surgeries and obtained a transgender identity card under the Kerala government's Transgender Policy, 2015.

Apart from a declaration from the court that Section 6 of the NCC Act is unconstitutional, the petitioner also urged the Court's intervention to allow her to be part of the enrollment process this year as interim relief.