New Delhi, Jan 14 : The Delhi High Court on Thursday sought Centre and Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) response on an application seeking issuance of Class X and XII certificates to a transgender person reflecting the name, gender and photograph in accordance with his self-identified gender.
The petitioner is a transgender who identifies himself as a male.
According to the petition, filed on his behalf by advocates Amritananda Chakravorty, Mihir Samson and Shreya Munoth, the person had undergone gender affirming surgery in order to align his body with his self-identified gender.
“As a result, the petitioner was able to get his identity document, such as his Aadhaar card issued in his self-identified name and gender (male), but his Class X and XII certificates still shows his female ‘dead name’, gender and photograph,” the application stated.
The person has been unable to continue his college education, owing to the discrepancy between his gender presentation and the name and gender recorded in his educational certificates, it added.
“Refusal to issue gender congruent documents to the petitioner has also forced him to use his female ‘dead name’, which in violative of his fundamental rights to privacy, dignity and autonomy. This has also resulted in the Petitioner having different identities as per different documents,” it stated.
The petitioner has sought a direction to CBSE to change the name, photograph, gender on his Class X and XII certificates in accordance with the rules of the Transgender Persons (Protection of rights) Act, 2020.
The Transgender Person Act was passed by Parliament in December, 2019 and came into force on January 10, 2020. Section 3 of the Act guarantees the protection of non-discrimination in all state activity and prohibits denial, discontinuation or unfair treatment against transgender persons in all educational establishments and services.
Section 4 grants recognition to the self-perceived gender identity of transgender person. The Act further mandates all authorities to change the name and gender of transgender persons in all official documents, including education certificates.
A bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh have asked for Centre and CBSE’s reply on the matter and kept the next date of hearing for February 12.
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