August 14th, 2010
The day before the 63rd Independence day of
India. The golden day when the first seed for legal recognition of India’s
third gender people was sown. The venue was Madras Judicial Academy.
It was an important day when the some of the highest
Judicial Authorities gathered in the Chennai, the capital of Tamilnadu state.
Department of Social Welfare of the Tamilnadu government, Madras High Court, Tamilnadu State Legal
Services Authority,National Legal Services Authority and the Madras Judicial Academy joined
hands and organised the SEMINAR ON ISSUES RELATED TO TRANSGENDER COMMUNITY. This
was the first event when the highest judiciary of India could hear the
transgender community’s dilemma in person, face to face, heart to heart. This
was the event that tore open for the truths to bare all, the event that
sensitized the some of the country’s greatest change makers.
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Altamas Kabir, Chief
Justice of the Madras Highcourt M.Y.Iqbal, Supreme court Judge Shri Sadasivam,
Minister of Social Welfare Geetha Jeevan, Director of the Department of Social
Welfare Mrs. Nirmala and the state one of the highest Police official Archana
Ramachandran were the prominent participating guests in the event.
Once the protocol speeches were over, it was time for us,
the transgender community to speak. I, as a representative of the community, I
had been waiting for this great opportunity to present the problems faced by
the transgender people. I was on the
dias sitting opposite the Honourable Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Altamas
Kabir giving him an emotional speech supported by a powerpoint presentation on
the problems faced by the transgender people of India. I started from
childhood, teenage and went to speak to the Judge about what dilemma and terror
we faced in schools as transgender kids, the bullying, the harassment, the lack
of understanding and counseling support, the life in fear and depression at
such an young age. I spoke to the Judges
in detail about the discriminations faced by us in the public, the lack of
education that has ultimately resulted the community to resort to begging and
sex work. Abandoned by family and becoming beggars and sex workers, all our
dreams crashed, we become unwanted people in the society.
Activist Priyababu spoke in detail about the possible solutions
for the problems faced by the community, senior activist Noori and community
voices Noorjahan and Selvi also spoke about the problems transgender women face
in the society.
This was the first event in the Indian history when the
transgender community could directly speak in detail about our problems to the
country’s Supreme court Judges who were the members of National Legal Services Authority
(NALSA).
After this event, on 4th February 2011 National Legal Services
Authority with technical support from United Nations Development Program organized a
National Seminar at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi. The Seminar was titled ‘Transgender
and the Law’. This was the first National seminar that discussed the legal rights
and recognizing the third gender people of India.
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| Transgender and the Law, New Delhi |
Hundreds of Judges from all over India, including some of the prominent supreme court, high court and district court Judges were present in the
event. The highest ranking Police officers from all over the country were also
present in the event. It was a historical day in the transgender rights
movement. Along with Honourable Justice Altamas Kabir sir who was also the Executive Chairman of NALSA, were other eminent
Judges like the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court M.Y.Iqbal, New Delhi
High Court Chief Justice Deepak Mishra and Justice Vikramajit Sen. UNDP Country
Director Caitley Weisen was present at the event as well.
As activists and transgender community representatives, I and Priyababu
were the two people from the South of India who were there to do presentations
and deliver speeches to sensitize the officials. From the North were Gauri
Sawant, Laxmi Narayan Tripati and Sabeena Francis.
The highlight of this seminar was the speeches and presentations by the transgender
activists which aimed to sensitize the Judiciary on the problems of the
transgender people of India whose life can only see ray of hope and an equal
life like any other citizen of the country. After the protocol speeches by the
chief guests and the hosts of the event, the Judges and Police officerrs were
requested to be seated in two different halls. It was time for us to speak. I
and Priyababu were in one hall and Lakshmi Natrayan Tripati, Gauri Sawant and
Sabeena was in the other speaking, answering and interacting with the Judges on
the transgender people’s life in India. I was sitting next to Cheif Justice sir, a very noble and kind person. He was listening to me very carefully and during his speech I could see how much of a deep understanding he has on the transgender issue.
Following this seminar, a number of
meetings and seminars were organised by State Legal Services Authorities of
various states. I spoke at the Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority’s
seminar and at the seminar organized by
Guahati University in Assam. I was invited by the Indian Judicial Academy and
once again met Judiciary from all over the country and spoke infront of them
insisting the very importance of legalising our gender and procuring our
rights. I also spoke at the Jindal Global School of Law on the same issue
stressing on acknowledging our rights as citizens of this country.
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| Kalki with Judge I.A.Ansari in Gauhati University |
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| Kalki speaks |
Akkai did the work in Karnataka following in the steps of her predecessors
like Pamela and Revathi, Seetha and Rudhra Chetri did it at New Delhi, Ranjita
Sinha and Amitava Sarkar did fabulous work in West Bengal. There were a number
of activists from other states who did similar work with passion for
determination for our rights and recognition.
The result of this great hard work by transgender women in sensitizing the
Judiciary of India and advocating for our rights finally reaped its results. NALSA filed a Social Jutice Litigation with the Supreme Court of India in
2013. The case was known as NALSA v/s Union of India. After almost an year and a half, on 15th April 2014 the Supreme Court of India recognised transgender people legally. It also directed the state and central government to take proactive measures.
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| Priyababu at TN state Judicial Academy |
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| Jeeva Speaks |
For almost a decade, UNDP has done tremendous ground work and has supported
in our battle towards legal recognition of the third gender.
From Priyababu filing a PIL in Madras High Court in 2005 for voting rights, Revathi bringing the first book revealing the transgender people's life in our own voice, to Swapna Karthik fighting in the court for the rights of transgender people to enter into civil
services, it is an indisputable fact that
the Indian transgender movement’s battle for legal recognition started in
Tamilnadu. I say it with great pride that the Tamil transwomen have contributed largely and powerfully by voicing
for the community’s rights and taking actions in the right direction in our country. Certainly,
the legal recognition of third gender would have not have been possible with
out the immense contribution of Transwomen from Tamilnadu.
April 15th, the day the third gender people were recognized legally in India, should be announced as National Transgender day. Jai Hind!
April 15th, the day the third gender people were recognized legally in India, should be announced as National Transgender day. Jai Hind!
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| Kalki Subramaniam at the Indian Judicial Academy, Bhopal |
REFERENCES:
August 14th, 2010:
Tamilnadu Seminar:
Feb 4th, 2011
National Seminar:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article1159795.ece http://www.deccanherald.com/content/135025/judges-favour-law-social-acceptance.htmlSupport Sahodari Foundation's initiatives. Please visit www.sahodari.org to know all our work for the transgender community.
