Supreme Court orders compensation, forms committee to protect transgender rights

NEw new delhi: The sublime margaret court on fri condemned the actions of 2 schools — one in Uttar Pradesh that expelled a transwoman teacher and another in Gujarat that later denied her a job within a year — ordering compensation for the transwoman and forming a committee to draft an Equal Opportunity policy for transgender individuals.“This judgment will go a long way in protecting the rights of transgender persons,” said a bench of justices JB Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan as it laid down guidelines against discrimination of the third gender.The court was hearing a petition filed by Jane Kaushik, a transwoman, who approached the court citing discrimination based on gender after UP’s Lakhimpur Kheri school fired her in December 2022, following which she applied at a school in Gujarat that refused to grant her employment in July 2023, allegedly on grounds of her gender.The top court said that the committee, headed by former Delhi High Court judge Asha Menon, with members drawn from civil society including transgender activists, academicians, and health experts, will study the subject and propose the Equal Opportunity Policy. It also urged the committee to set up a grievance redressal mechanism and ensure protection of gender non-conforming and gender-diverse persons.The court ordered compensation to the petitioner for her wrongful termination and said, “With this judgment, the future of the third gender should be secure.”The petition, argued by senior advocate Yashraj Singh Deora, challenged Kaushik’s termination, seeking effective protection for the third gender despite the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in NALSA v Union of India (2014) granting them legitimate recognition. The plea sought reinstatement, with Deora stating that the present case exposed the structural discrimination and harassment faced by transgender persons on the grounds of their gender.The Supreme Court had passed the NALSA judgment in 2014, which ordered the Centre and states to treat transgender persons as “socially and educationally backward classes and extend all kinds of reservation” in government jobs and higher education.Also Read:SC notice to Centre, UP and Gujarat over sacking of a trans woman teacher Kaushik, a resident of Delhi, also accused the Centre and states of not complying with the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, in letter and spirit and sought equal guarantee of protection of rights and employment opportunities for transgender persons.The Supreme Court last year sought replies from the Centre, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat on a petition moved by Kaushik. “The grievance of the petitioner is that her services were terminated in schools of UP and Gujarat after her gender identity was revealed. The petitioner says that she cannot pursue her remedies in two different high courts. Issue notice to the Union and the states, returnable after four weeks,” directed a bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud.After she was sacked by the UP school, a district-level panel appointed by the National Commission for Women (NCW), Delhi, was set up to investigate whether Kaushik was sacked due to her gender identity. However, in a January 2023 report, the NCW panel gave a clean chit to the school in question and called Kaushik’s allegations “baseless.” The NCW report was then challenged by Kaushik before the top court.