Mumbai: Hearing a 2018 case Ashutosh Kumbakoni, Advocate General appearing for the State Government informed the Bombay High Court on Monday that the process of appointing a woman identified as a man to the non-constabulary post of Junior Typist has been initiated. Further hearing on this petition has been adjourned till August 18.
The bench was presiding over the plea of a 23-year-old woman, who had applied for the Nashik Rural Police Recruitment 2018 under the Scheduled Caste (SC) category and was declared male in a medical test. A bench of Justice Revathi Mohite-Dere and Sharmila U Deshmukh on Monday was informed by Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbakoni that the Joint Secretary of the Home Department has written to the Additional Director General of Police Training and Special Squad regarding the appointment of the petitioner.
The recruitment process has started for the post of Junior Typist (non-constabulary post). In May, the court had directed the police department to expeditiously implement the Maharashtra government's decision on her appointment. The High Court was informed that she scored qualifying marks for the concerned exam but lost out on the post after a medical test revealed that she was a 'male'.
The High Court held that the petitioner was 19 years of age when she applied for the post. She was not aware until she got the medical examination report. The police did not recruit the petitioner who scored 171 marks out of 200 on the written and physical tests. She made it through the SC women category cut-off as her marks were lower than the SC men category cut-off.
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However, the state government on July 22 informed the court that it had decided to grant an exemption on a special case basis to the petitioner for appointment as a Junior Typist in the office of Police Inspector Nashik (Rural). "It is an extremely unfortunate case. No fault can be found in the petitioner as throughout, she has pursued her career as a female," the bench said while passing the order. The petitioners have come here from the poor economic strata of the society.
Her parents work as sugarcane cutters. The petitioner is the eldest person in her family having two younger sisters and one brother. The bench noted that the petitioner woman said that no fault can be found in her as she had all the characteristics of a woman. Also, the petitioners were not aware that their body structure was different and they came to know about it after the NIH test.
The woman then moved the high court, saying she had been unaware of the anatomical anomaly. She said she had lived as a female right from birth and all her educational certificates and personal documents were registered with a female name. She cannot be denied recruitment only because the karyotyping chromosome examination had declared her male.
However, a subsequent medical exam showed that she did not have a uterus and ovaries. Another test showed she had both the male and female chromosomes and it opined that she was "male". As the proceedings went on, the bench fixed the next hearing on August 18, directing that a decision be taken within four weeks from the receipt of the additional recommendation to the state.
