HC asks Maharashtra govt to instruct educational institutions to allow retrospective gender change in records

NEW DELHI: Responding to a plea by a transgender person, the Bombay High Court has directed the Maharashtra government to instruct all educational institutions in the state to allow retrospective changes of name and gender in their records. A division bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Neela Gokhale, in its order of April 25, said the questions of identity and gender perception do not happen at a "biologically definable point".

The petitioner, an alumnus of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), identifies as a transgender and sought to change their name and gender in the education records of the institute. In 2013, the petitioner received an MA in Development Studies from the TISS with their original feminine name. In 2015, the petitioner adopted another name, self-identifying as transgender and applied to the TISS for a new certificate reflecting the changes in name and gender.

When there was no response from the institute, the petitioner approached the HC. The high court said that earlier orders passed by the Supreme Court "direct us towards greater inclusiveness and acceptance of individuality and individual traits." "These are not to be compromised because of some bureaucratic requirements," the division bench said. "This is a case of denial of a human being's self-identity and self-identification. That cannot be done and cannot be permitted.

Nor can an institute be permitted to force upon the petitioner a name, identity or gender that the petitioner has chosen to reject in preference to some other," it added. On the TISS's stand that the petitioner first produce earlier educational records with the new name and gender, the HC said this was not just obstructive but also a denial of the petitioner's fundamental rights. "Questions of identity, self-identification and gender perception do not happen at a biologically definable point in time.

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These are matters of self-realisation without predictable time frames," HC said. The court added that no person who desires to make such changes should be put through the additional trauma of having to get reissued every single document from birth onwards. The bench directed TISS to change the petitioner's name and gender in the educational records and issue new certificates accordingly. It also directed the institute to make changes in its website to include a form for such changes. "It is for the state government to also issue necessary instructions to all similar educational institutions across Maharashtra," HC said.