Direct cops to allow me surgery: Salve to Bombay HC

Mumbai: Woman constable Lalita Salve on Thursday approached the Bombay high court seeking directions to the Maharashtra police to allow her to change her gender and at the same time safeguard her post.

Salve had approached the court after the superintendent of police, Beed refused her permission and said that if she changes her gender she would be disqualified from her job.

Salve had prayed that she be allowed to not only change her sex but also that the government bears the cost of her sex reassignment surgery and allows her to keep the job.

Advocate Ejaz Naqvi who appears on behalf of Salve, while mentioning the case before a division bench of Chief Justice Dr Manjula Chellur and Justice M.S. Sonak said that her petition sought a month’s leave to undergo sex reassignment surgery as she had been suggested the same by the doctors at JJ Hospital. He said Salve had consulted them after her body started undergoing changes about three years ago.

Mr Naqvi submitted that it was Salve’s right to life and she chose to do the sex reassignment surgery but was refused. The petition prayed that she not only be allowed to undergo the surgery but the state should bear the cost of the same, as she was an employee of the state.

Speaking to The Asian Age, Salve said she had full faith in the judiciary and was hopeful of getting the required leave for the surgery. Her maternal uncle, Arjun Uzgare who accompanied her said the entire family supported Salve’s decision to transform herself to Lalit (the name she prefers to be called). “In the event of not getting the desired relief, we are even willing to go to the Supreme Court,” said Mr Uzgare.

After hearing the case the Chief Justice however directed Mr Naqvi to mention it before the appropriate bench as each category of cases were assigned to different benches. Mr Naqvi said he would be mentioning the case before the bench of Justice Shantanu Kemkar on Friday.