Why trans people can’t live their dreams

Transgenders can now apply for a police constable’s job in Maharashtra, but it has taken them a long fight to get here. When the state government informed Bombay High Court on December 9 that it would include a ‘third gender’ option in the application form for the recruitment of constables, it did so only after the court rapped its knuckles.The fight to consider transgenders in police recruitment had started a couple of months ago when two trans people, Arya Pujari and Nikita Mukhyadal, petitioned the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT) for a third gender option in the application form. They also wrote to Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde and deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis to intervene on behalf of transgender aspirants.When MAT told the government to include the option in the application form in November, the state challenged its order in Bombay High Court. It told the HC transgenders could not be appointed as constables due to the nature of duties expected of them: “Keeping in view overall nature of duties to be performed by the persons holding the posts for which the recruitment process is undertaken demonstrate that it is and will not be practicable to make appointment of transgenders to these posts (sic).”But on December 8, the high court told the state to make guidelines to ensure the Supreme Court’s National Legal Services Authority (NLSA) judgment, 2014, recognising transgenders as the third gender, was complied with. The SC in its 2014 order had directed state governments to give reservation to transgenders in educational institutions and public employment.In a quick climbdown, the state told the court it would modify its website “to include a third dropdown for transgenders in the category of ‘sex’ in the online application form”, and keep two constable posts for transgenders.Medium108404263 Activists working for transgenders’ rights have welcomed the HC decision. “We thank Bombay High Court for pulling up the state government, but why do we have to go to court for everything?” said advocate Pawan Yadav, a transgender who heads Saarthi Foundation that works for trans people. “Does the government want us to live off begging or prostitution? We must get government jobs too.”Yadav’s exasperation is justified. He has fought for transgender rights before, including a long battle to get a crematorium for transgenders in Palghar district and exclusive toilets for the community members in Jogeshwari, Mumbai.The Maharashtra case has riled activists across India. “I am appalled by what the Maharashtra government told Bombay HC. It is highly discriminatory to assume that ‘it is and will not at all be practicable’ to appoint transgender persons in the police force considering the overall nature of duties,” said Manabi Bandopadhyay, a transgender and principal of Dhola Mahavidyalaya in Bengal’s South 24 Praganas district.The Maharashtra government’s stand on transgender constables was also problematic because other police forces employ them. For example, Pallabi Samanta, a transgender, works with the green police in Kolkata. In Tamil Nadu, K Prithika Yashini became the first transgender police officer in India in 2017 after winning a legal battle that put a model in place for all states to follow. With only ‘male’ and ‘female’ gender options provided, Prithika applied under the ‘female’ category and won her case against ‘Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board (TNUSRB)’. She was appointed as sub-inspector in Dharmapuri. Dalit and trans activist Grace Banu says states don’t need to create separate laws to recruit transgenders. “When we were pushing Prithika’s case, we just had the NLSA judgment, and won the case with that. TNUSRB then added provisions, such as appointing her under the ‘female’ category, and relaxing rules for her physical examination.”Regardless, transgenders everywhere in the country face an uphill struggle for government employment. In Telangana, Dr Ruth John Paul Koyyala and Dr Prachi Rathore were recently appointed medical officers at the government-run Osmania Hospital (see accompanying report), but even they didn’t get their SC-ordained rights.“We both wrote our NEET-PG exam as trans women, but did not get reserved seats. This was against the 2014 Supreme Court order which recognises the third gender and grants reservation in admission to educational institutions and jobs. We were categorised as female and have written to the Telangana government on this,” Dr Prachi told TOI.Reporting by Priyanka Dasgupta in Kolkata, Donita Jose in Hyderabad, Saranya Chakrapani in Chennai, Sharmila Ganesan Ram and Mohammed Wajihuddin in MumbaiMedium108404264 Meet the trans docs who have got Telangana govt jobsDonita.Jose@timesgroup.comWhen Dr Prachi Rathore worked in a private hospital, patients laughed at her and commented on her appearance to her face. “I was undergoing hormone therapy then and slowly transitioning, but my attire was still that of a male, which made the patients highly suspicious of me. It was harsh and crushed my self-confidence,” she recalls.Prachi graduated from RIMS-Adilabad in 2015 and is one of the first two transgender doctors appointed to government jobs in Telangana this month. Dr Ruth John Paul Koyyala and she have been made medical officers at Osmania General Hospital, Telangana’s largest tertiary care centre. It’s a giant leap for the trans community in the state, but behind it lie two stories of pain and grit. The discrimination and taunts sometimes made Prachi and Ruth wary of pursuing medicine, a public-facing career, but they persevered.“Unlike Prachi, I never really got to work in a private hospital during or after my transition. Hospitals in the city rejected me, so I never found out what patients would do,” says Ruth, who graduated in 2018. She eventually set up her own clinic during the pandemic with help from some transgender donors and NGOs. “Sadly though, in the beginning nobody came, and I think it’s due to the stigma around trans persons that many are into begging or sex work,” says Ruth.But she did not give up. “Since it was the pandemic and people suffered from a range of medical issues, I made my service free and held camps. I held free check-ups for nearly 1,800 people in the last two years.” Ruth’s service earned her people’s respect, and word spread that she was a good doctor. Ruth now divides her time across three clinics, including Mitr, India’s first dedicated transgender clinic. Prachi, on the other hand, continued facing hostile patients and her hospital management even withheld her salary.Medium108404265 “The administration and my colleagues were not supportive. Everyone from the co-doctors to the senior consultants, nurses, security staff, etc would see me differently. Double-meaning jokes, and comments on my body and looks took a serious toll on my mental health. I had no choice but to work until they started holding back my salary.”Prachi and Ruth hope the stigma against transgenders in private and government healthcare will wane with their presence and service. But Prachi says deeper changes are needed to foster inclusivity.“A core issue is that there is no gender inclusivity in our school curriculum. Forget school, the words ‘trans person’ or ‘third gender’ don’t exist even in our MBBS-level books. So when this is not in our books, how can we expect society to be normalised towards it and be fair within and outside hospitals?” She wants the Telangana government to add the subject to medical curricula and then introduce it in secondary schooling.Meanwhile, both doctors are pleasantly surprised by the increased acceptance they have found from patients in a public hospital.“When we joined Osmania General Hospital, the concern was that we would face more backlash because the number of patients here is larger. However, the opposite happened. Everyone is very sweet and unbiased. They just want a doctor to hear them and help them,” says Prachi. “Since we know what it feels like to not be heard – because we too were patients during our transition and saw many trans people struggle with access to safe healthcare – we can easily win them over with our empathy.”Prachi has a view about her bad experience at the private hospital: “In private hospitals, the feeling is that since we are paying so much we must get the best doctors. And since there are so few transgender doctors, they are never seen to be good enough. I hope with this appointment, more transgender doctors will emerge.”