‘I changed sex for her, but she dumped me’

A 34-year-old woman, who underwent a sex change operation to disguise her lesbian relationship, is now struggling to find her lost identity after being deserted by her 39-year-old lover.

The bizarre case, which could throw up several legal challenges, is being heard in a Pune court.

After undergoing a two-year process to change her sex, the woman says she entered into a man-woman marriage with her partner as per Arya Samaj rites on December 21, 2001. She claims they also have a daughter aged four. The girl was born after the complainant’s brother donated his sperm to impregnate his sister’s partner.

Acting on a complaint filed by the woman, who resides at Koregaon Park, Pune, judicial magistrate (first class) Jyoti Purkar on April 29 directed the Bund Garden police station to inquire into the issue and file a detailed report.

In her complaint, the woman said her lover — a former employee with Air India — induced her to change her sex by giving her false assurances.

Alleging that she was deserted after she had undergone partial sex change (above the waist), the complainant said she had not only lost her identity and womanhood, but also the right and ability to parent a biological child.

She accused her former partner — a resident of Santa Cruz in Mumbai — of forcibly separating her daughter from her, and of misappropriating several properties and bank accounts.

The complainant has sought action under sections 379 (theft), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 468 (forgery), and 469 (forgery for purpose of harming reputation) of the Indian Penal Code. Turn to p7

“She had a dishonest intention right from the beginning, and systematically cheated me,” the complainant said in an affidavit submitted to the court.
 
Love’s labour lost
In 1995, the complainant, then 21, left her parental home in Indore to stay with her brother Asif in Mumbai. She came in contact with her now estranged lover while visiting the home of one of her brother’s friends.

The two later got into a sexual relationship.
The complainant said that in May 1996, when her family members wanted to execute a memorandum of family settlement, the accused not only insisted that her name be put as witness, but also induced the complainant to purchase a flat in Bandra.

Advocate JP Barmeda, who is representing the complainant, said his client was coerced to undergo a sex change operation, assuring her that it would make the couple inseparable. The complainant and her partner even travelled to Delhi to consult plastic surgeon Dr Lokesh Kumar. 

In 1998, the complainant says she began her hormonal treatment, a two-year process, for the sex change operation, “which assists in bringing the secondary male characteristics in a female”.

Barmeda said that in May 2001, at the Apollo Hospital in Delhi, her breasts, uterus, ovaries and Fallopian tubes were removed.

According to the complainant, she and her lover then got married on December 21, 2001.

Barmeda alleged that the complainant was emotionally blackmailed to persuade her brother to lend his sperm. He refused initially, but later agreed. The complainant’s partner became pregnant in March 2004 and gave birth to a baby girl at Breach Candy Hospital on November 25.

Barmeda said his client then received a notice of divorce on December 23, 2006, without citing any valid reason.
 
OTHER ALLEGATIONS IN THE COMPLAINT
Was forced to transfer four acres of land at Shivnagar in Mhow in her partner’s name in 1999

In September 2000, complainant was asked to sign an affidavit for change of name owing to sex change operation

Complainant was asked to transfer a flat in Bandra. Her partner, however, succeeded in putting her name as a nominee

LEGAL VIEWPOINT
This is probably the first case of its kind. It depends largely on medical evidence. The complainant seems to have suffered a lot. But her allegations need to be corroborated by medical evidence.
—Alankar Karlekar, senior advocate