He/She/? - The Third Gender
IN a landmark judgement delivered yesterday, the Supreme Court declared:
Hijras, Eunuchs, apart from binary gender, be treated as "third gender" for the purpose of safeguarding their rights under Part III of our Constitution and the laws made by the Parliament and the State Legislature.
Transgender persons' right to decide their self-identified gender is also upheld and the Centre and State Governments are directed to grant legal recognition of their gender identity such as male, female or as third gender.
As per Section 13(1) of the General Clauses Act, 1897,
In all Central Acts and Regulations, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,--
(1) words importing the masculine gender shall be taken to include females;
Now it should be amended to include the 'third gender'. We don't know how many laws have to be amended.
As per Section 3(1)(f) of the Hindu Succession Act 1956,
(f) "heir" means any person, male or female, who is entitled to succeed to the property of an intestate under this Act:
The Supreme Court started its judgement with these words:
Seldom, our society realizes or cares to realize the trauma, agony and pain which the members of Transgender community undergo, nor appreciates the innate feelings of the members of the Transgender community, especially of those whose mind and body disown their biological sex. Our society often ridicules and abuses the Transgender community and in public places like railway stations, bus stands, schools, workplaces, malls, theatres, hospitals, they are sidelined and treated as untouchables, forgetting the fact that the moral failure lies in the society's unwillingness to contain or embrace different gender identities and expressions, a mindset which we have to change.