Modern India’s discussion about sex and genders has been binary for a very long time. And that might be due to the lack of education, the overbearing presence of politics and religion or plain old misrepresentation. However, as a vocal minority has continuously fought to turn the tide towards a broader conversation, things have begun to look up for the transgender community.
According to NDTV, Assam has got its first transgender judge, making it the third state in the country, after West Bengal and Maharashtra, to make such a progressive move. Swati Bidhan Baruah said,
“My appointment as a judge in the Lok Adalat is a very positive message for the society and will help create awareness on discrimination against transgenders.”
On 15th April 2014, the Supreme Court of India had declared transgenders as a class that’s entitled to reservations in education, jobs and demanded the Government to ensure equal treatment for them. And after the Rajya Sabha passed the Right of Transgender Persons Bill, there has been a steady rise in transgender employment in the past couple of years.
Manabi Bandhyopadhyay became the first transgender principal at the Krishnagar Women’s College. That was followed by the appointments of Joyita Mondal Mahi and Vidya Kamble as judges in West Bengal and Nagpur, respectively. The police force welcomed the inclusion of Prithika and Nasriya. And now Swati has joined this list of resilient and talented people.
Swati will begin her job in court number 25 in the Kamrup district and sessions court as appointed by the Kamprup (metro) district legal services. Talking about the problems faced by transgenders in Assam, she said,
“We have documented the list of transgenders in the state and will soon appeal to the Supreme Court to ensure that they are included in the NRC and not labelled as foreigners.”
Although the Supreme Court has asked the Government to ensure a healthy environment for the transgender community, there’s a social stigma that continues to hurt them. So, her first course of action will be register the names of transgendered people in the National Register of Citizens (NRC) who’ve been disowned by their families.
The transgender community has long been misrepresented and underrepresented in the society and Swati’s first priority is to end that immense amount of discrimination.
“The capacity and capability of transgenders must be recognised and they must be provided with ample opportunities to ensure that they can lead a dignified life. I hope that I am able to maintain the principle of natural justice as a judge as Lok Adalats deal with settlement outside the court through arbitration, conciliation and mediation.”
As much as we like to pretend that India is progressing, we can’t neglect the misogynistic elements that are spread across our society. And the only way to drown those voices of discrimination is by over-representing those who’ve been ignored for generations. So, while the discussion about LGBTQ rights still hangs in the balance, we can appreciate Swati’s appointment as a sign of upcoming change.