India / Female police constable allowed to change sex in Madhya Pradesh

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh home department permitted a woman constable on Wednesday to undergo gender change through sex reassignment surgery without affecting her service. The permission, a first for the state, was described by the constable as “life changing”.

“This permission will change my life. Now, I will be a free soul and will live my life to the fullest,” she said, while talking to state home department’s additional chief secretary Rajesh Rajora.

Giving details of her case, ACS Rajora said the constable was diagnosed with Gender Identity Disorder since childhood and had been working “like a man”. The constable Namita (name changed), whose real identity is not being revealed by the HT, said she has been working “fearlessly” in the police department.

“I belong to a village and people used to call me ‘Tomboy’ since childhood. I have been selected as a constable through the woman’s quota seven years ago. I am the only earning member of the family. My family was very happy for my fearless work,” she said.

She applied to police headquarters for permission to change her sex after a notification of her intention was published in the Gazette of India in 2019. Amita said it was not easy for society to accept her decision.

“They always appreciated my way of talking like male but when I told them that I want to go for sex reassignment surgery, they were shocked. They thought it was impossible for a female to change her sex to become a male. They are opposing it but a social organisation helped me in it [going forward with the decision],” Amita said.

Following her application, the police headquarters sought permission from the home department for the employee to undergo gender change without affecting her employment. The home department released the order on Wednesday to the Director General of Police (DGP), permitting Amita (name changed) to change her sex, Rajora said.

Amita says the permission means she now has the freedom to end the duality.

“I am a man trapped in a woman’s body. From outside, I have changed my lifestyle like a man but I always feel suffocated for befooling myself with just materialistic change, not by physical changes,” she said, giving a glimpse of her battles.

Director general of police Vivek Johri said, “It is happening for the first time in MP and we are glad that the woman constable succeeded in changing the course of her life”.