ABOVE: Madras High Court in Chennai, India. (Photo by Eugene Ga/Bigstock)
Respect, loyalty and strength are synonymous with India’s transgender community.
According to ancient Indian texts, Rama granted trans people the power to confer a blessing on auspicious occasions. But 200 years of British colonialism changed the environment for them. Indian courts, however, have tried to remedy some of these abuses through landmark rulings.
In October, the Madras High Court, one of the highest courts in India, ruled trans people are entitled to a special category for admission to post-basic nursing and post-basic diploma in psychiatry nursing courses.
The Madras High Court directed the secretary of the Tamil Nadu Health and Family Welfare department, the director of Medical Education, and the secretary to the Selection Committee to treat the petitioner S Tamilselvi as the third gender and place her in a special category for admission to the course for the academic year 2022-2023.
The present exam in the course has been issued only for male and female candidates.
The top court also said that if any other trans person applied for the same course, a separate category of merit list shall be prepared by the secretary consisting of only trans candidates and based on merit among trans candidates.
Tamilselvi, a candidate for the course, petitioned the Madras High Court to find the Post Basic-Nursing Course and Post Basic Diploma in Psychiatry Nursing Course for the year 2022-2023, as illegal for not categorizing trans candidates under a special category.
For the same course, communal reservation is available. But there were no separate reservations available for the third gender, which made Tamilselvi approach the court, according to her lawyer, Reshmi Christy.
While delivering the ruling, the Madras High Court also cited the Indian Supreme Court’s decision to treat the third gender as a special category.
“Even though special reservation has not been made horizontally for transgender candidates,” said Justice Suresh Kumar while delivering the decision. “The non-inclusion of the petitioner in the special category meant for transgender is against the judgments given by the Hon’ble Supreme Court as well as this court and also against the provisions of the 2019 Act.”
While talking with the Washington Blade, Kalki Subramaniam, a trans rights and climate activist, applauded the ruling and said that reservation is very important for the rise of the economic and social status of the trans population of India who because of the colonization by the British and their colonial laws have been completely marginalized and till today suffer stigma, exploitation and poverty. Reservation will help them raise their social and economic status sustainably.
Reacting to the Madras High Court ruling, Chetana Salunkhe of the LGBTQ group Navi Mumbai expressed her happiness.
“It is indeed a great news that the Madras High Court came out with the ruling that transgender people in India deserve to be provided special reservation with separate merit list of their own,” said Salunkhe. “As per the Indian society transgender people are not given much opportunities when it comes to studying, working or even generally. But even though this is a start I still believe that merit does not really need to linked with gender, cast creed and that it should be given on knowledge and potential to everyone equally.”
Salunkhe also said that the ruling would lead to greater opportunities for trans people in India as they have been denied even basic rights.
“Due to this one step they will at least get access to education and work which can help them have a stable lifestyle for them and their family and overall even the societies viewpoint will change towards the community when we are seen successful,” said Salunkhe. “I also believe, all we need to grow in life, is to be seen equally in the eyes of the society and be treated right.”
Kanav Narayan Sahgal, a communication manager at Nyaaya, the Vidhi Center for Legal Policy, also applauded the High Court’s ruling.
“I think it’s a progressive step forward. From what I understand, the court held this decision unwaveringly,” said Sahgal. “While this case related to the admission of transgender people for Post Basic (Nursing) Courses and Post Basic Diploma Courses in Psychiatry Nursing for the academic year 2022-2023, courts and legislators will ultimately have to think about how to expand the ambit to this judgment (and its reasoning) to possible challenges to discriminatory admission processes for other courses, especially those that are quite unfamiliar to LGBTQ+ issues such as finance, business, and real estate. The real question in my mind is how can we include transgender people in all walks of life, beyond just healthcare.”
Sahgal also added that it is the most progressive step forward, and it would be pertinent to listen to trans activists themselves who has spoken widely on the issue of reservations.
“Grace Banu, whose activism I deeply admire, has been a fierce advocate of horizontal reservations for transgender people,” said Sahgal. “This will give SC, ST and OBC transgender people greater opportunities and will ensure that policy makers truly take an intersectional approach while trying to include transgender people in matters of law and governance. In 2021, Karnataka become the first state to provide one percent reservation for transgender persons in employment for civil services posts across caste categories. This was a result of an intervention filed by Jeeva, an organization working on the rights of sexual minorities in Karnataka in Sangama v. State of Karnataka. I hope that other states in India follow suit.”
Ankush Kumar is a freelance reporter who has covered many stories for Washington and Los Angeles Blades from Iran, India and Singapore. He recently reported for the Daily Beast. He can be reached at mohitk@opiniondaily.news. He is on Twitter at @mohitkopinion.
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