The Supreme Court on December 10 reserved its judgment on a plea filed by a transwoman teacher, who alleged that her appointments were terminated by two schools in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh after her gender identity was disclosed.
The matter was heard by a bench comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan. Earlier, on January 2, the Court had issued notice in the case and has now directed the parties involved to submit their written arguments within two weeks.
The bench, which also included former Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud along with Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, issued notices to the Union of India, the State Governments, and the concerned schools, seeking their responses. The Court also highlighted the discriminatory treatment faced by the petitioner due to her gender identity.
In the landmark National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India & Ors. (2014) judgment, a bench of Justices KS Radhakrishnan and AK Sikri recognized transgender individuals as the third gender. The Court emphasized that the lack of legal recognition of transgender persons could not justify their exclusion from equal opportunities in education and employment. Following this, the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act was enacted in 2019 to protect their rights.
Case Details: Jane Kaushik v. Union of India and Ors., W.P.(C) No. 1405/2023
