Transgender's plea for passport: HC seeks Centre stand
New Delhi: Aggrieved by non-issuance of a passport by the authorities with a change in name and gender, a transgender person moved the Delhi High Court for issuance of the travel document with the requisite changes.
A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh issued notice to the Ministry of External Affairs seeking its stand on the plea which has claimed that the petitioner was issued an Aadhaar card, PAN card and a Voter ID under the changed name and gender, but not a passport.
"That since all the documents of the petitioner, including her Aadhaar Card, Voter ID as well as her PAN Card have been issued to her with the required changes in name and gender on the basis of the affidavit dated December 2, 2019, the petitioner is also entitled to be issued her new passport with the same changes as have been made in her other documents," the petition has said.
The petitioner, who was born a male and subsequently changed his gender to female by way of a self declaration on an affidavit in 2019, has also challenged a requirement under the Passport Rules 1980 to submit a "sex-change certificate" from a hospital for issuance of the travel document.
In the petition, filed through advocates Siddharth Seem and Oindrila Sen, the petitioner has claimed that the requirement for a sex-change certificate was "illegal and unconstitutional" and it has prevented several transgender persons in getting their passports to reflect their self-identified gender.
"The petitioner has already undergone a facial feminization surgery from a trusted doctor at Bangkok. She wishes to undergo rest of her gender reassignment procedures/ surgeries from the same doctor at Bangkok.
"Presently, the petitioner does not have a passport and would therefore be unable to travel anywhere for her future surgeries," the plea has said.
