Coming to the rescue of a 19-year-old NRI transgender, the Delhi High Court on Monday passed directions for her safe return to the U.S., while observing that she would travel unaccompanied after restoration of her green card and passport and would not be subjected to any harassment upon arrival in San Francisco.
The transgender, Shivani Bhat, had approached the Court while alleging that her parents had forcibly brought her to India and got her enrolled in an educational institution in Agra so that she could be reformed and taught to be a “normal girl”. The Court had earlier granted her police protection.
Disposing of Shivani's writ petition, Justice Siddharth Mridul of the High Court recorded the assurance of her parents that they would continue to finance her education for the next three years as long as she pursues bachelor's degree in neurobiology from University of California.
In addition to tuition fees, Shivani's parents also agreed to provide 500 U.S. dollars per month to her for personal expenses and gave her 300 U.S. dollars and Rs.10,000 during the proceedings in the Court.
The Delhi Police also assured the Court that it had already provided adequate protection to Shivani and would continue to do so till she leaves India. The police do not intend to take any coercive steps against Shivani or the LGBT activists who extended support to her.
The Court directed the Uttar Pradesh Police, with whom a complaint was lodged by Shivani's mother when she went missing, not to harass or illegally confine anybody from the territorial jurisdiction of the High Court except as per the procedure established by law.
Shivani's mother told the Court that she was not interested in pursuing the complaint, on the basis of which an FIR had been registered, in view of the rapprochement between her and her daughter.
In some stinging observations, the Court said the transgenders had long lived “on the fringes of society, often in poverty, ostracised severely, because of their gender identity.”
“They have for too long had to endure public ridicule and humiliation; have been socially marginalised and excluded from society, their basic human rights have been severely denuded,” said the Judge in his 10-page verdict.
Citing the Supreme Court's landmark judgment in National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India delivered last year recognising transgenders as third gender, the Court said the trauma, agony and pain of the members of the transgender community continues unabated despite the apex court verdict.
