DISCRIMINATION OF GENDER : RIGHT TO BE EMPLOYED
WHAT HAPPENED ?
PERSON : ShanaviPonnusamy from Thoothukuddi in Tamil Nadu is a transgender. ACTION : She applied for employment at Air India. DENIAL : But public carrier Air India decided rejected her application to serve as flight cabin crew.
REASON : SHE WAS A TRANSGENDER !!!!
SC : A Bench of Chief Justice of India DipakMisra and Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud decided to take up Ms.Ponnusamy's fight.
WHAT DID COURT DO ? The court gave the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Air India Ltd. four weeks to respond to Ms.Ponnusamy’s question on
“How they could discriminate and deny her a job solely for the reason that she is a transgender?”
HER PLIGHT !!! • Doesn’t a person have the right to gender identity, she asked.
HER RIGHT TO CHOICE DENIED : HOW ? Ms.Ponnusamy said she had no choice but to apply as a woman because the application form did not have a separate column for transgenders.
LEGAL CONTRA : This was despite a 2014 judgment of the Supreme Court which declared transgenders as the ‘third community’. • The apex court had ordered job applications to have a separate column for the third gender.
RIGHT TO EQUALITY VIOLATED : It is hard to find people who employ transgenders – Practical truth but it is exposed to legal reality again.
Ms.Ponnusamy’s powerful expression : The right to one's gender identity was a human right. Human rights are basic rights and freedoms which are guaranteed to a human by virtue of him being a human which can neither be created nor can be abrogated by any government.
LEGAL LACUNAE : Even though we have a handful of cases speaking their rights - Till now there is no live legislation for transgender.
BUT THE FUTURE : The Rights of Transgender Persons Bill, 2014 is a proposed Act of the Parliament of India which seeks to end the discrimination faced by transgender people in India.
WHAT IS IT’S STAGE ? The Bill was passed by the upper house Rajya Sabha on 24 April 2015. It was introduced in the lower house Lok Sabha on 26 February 2016
HOW THIS TOPIC COULD BE ASKED IN LAW OPTIONAL UPSC MAINS ?
1) Human rights are basic rights and freedoms which are guaranteed to a human by virtue of him being a human which can neither be created nor can be abrogated by any government – analyze this statement with respect to rights of transgender.
2) Explain the legal status of transgender with recent case laws ? Can they be denied employment on basis of their sex explain ?
3) Write a brief note on transgender and right to be employed in India.
Note : they are only model questions
