Chennai: The State Human Rights Commission directed state government to file a report for refusing to register the degree course of a transwoman. Based on a report in Deccan Chronicle, SHRC judge D Jayachandran initiated suo motu proceedings and directed the authorities to file the report in four weeks.
According to the report, Rakshika Raj born as Rajkumar in Walajabad, Kanchipuram, said that she identified her sexuality when she was in high school. After schooling she joined the Padmashree College of Nursing, Wallajabad where she says she received support from the college. Rakshika, who was recently in the news for receiving her degree in B Sc Nursing from Governor Banwarilal Purohit at the 31st convocation ceremony of MGR medical varsity said that the Tamil Nadu Nurses and Midwives Council (TNNMC) does not have a separate box for transgenders in application and other forms.
The TNNMC is waiting for a government order (GO) to implement the Supreme Court’s historic 2014 judgment which ruled that transgenders are eligible to all rights as every other citizen of the country and can apply for education and employment under the ‘other’ gender category, Rakshika says.
The failure on government’s part to pass the GO has made Rakshika’s life hard, who says and she is struggling financially with no job in hand, even a year after she graduated.
Judge D. Jayachandran directed the TNNMC to explain why it failed to registered the degree of Rakshika and why government failed to pass a GO to implement the Madras High Court order relating to reservation for admission in educational institutions and appointment in government services, and whether failure to implement the high court orders do not amount to violations of the human rights of Rakshika. The judge directed the principal secretary, health and family welfare department and president of the TNNMC to file the report in four weeks.
