NEW DELHI, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- India's western state of Rajasthan has appointed its first transgender cop, 24-year-old Ganga Kumari.
Kumari's induction into the police force as the first transgender woman constable came after Rajasthan's High Court on Monday ordered the state government to appoint her within six weeks and treat her appointment from 2015 for seniority purpose.
"The court said that the Constitution is gender neutral and no citizen can be discriminated against on the basis of gender. She will be the first transgender to be appointed (as constable) in the state police in Rajasthan," Kumari's lawyer R.S. Rathore told the media.
In fact, Kumari was selected in the police force two years back after passing the written and physical tests. But she was forced to approach the High Court as the Rajasthan Police had put her joining on hold since 2015 owing to her gender, citing lack of clarity of rules.
"I am very happy that my long struggle has finally come to an end," she told the media.
In April 2014, India's Supreme Court recognized transgender persons as a third gender. "It's the right of every human being to choose their gender," a two-judge bench said in a landmark ruling while granting rights to those who identify themselves as neither male nor female.
"The spirit of the Constitution is to provide equal opportunity to every citizen to grow and attain their potential, irrespective of caste, religion or gender," the top court said, ordering the Indian government to provide transgender people with quotas in jobs and education.
Estimates suggest that India has about 2 million transgender people. Activists say that they live on the fringes of society, often in poverty, ostracised because of their gender identity.
But India now has a transgender college principal, a transgender TV news channel anchor. And earlier in 2015, a transgender woman became the country's first to win municipal elections and be declared a mayor.
"India is changing. But the Indian government must introduce quota for transgender people and offer them other amenities in line with the same for the upliftment of minorities in this country," said Delhi-based social activist Rohila Mehta.
