Three Tamil Nadu-based transgender women are spearheading a legal fight against the Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board (TNUSRB) – a government body which is in charge of recruiting personnel for the state’s uniformed forces like the police, and fire and rescue services. What started out as a petition seeking permission to apply for a post of a constable in Tamil Nadu police has now translated into a fight to assert their rights at every level. This includes securing a court order even for basic things like their exam results, and an invitation to a physical fitness test.
The ordeal began six months ago, says 29-year-old Thenmozhi. She, along with two other trans women – Saradha and Deepika – had applied to the Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board for a job as a constable. Born as a part of the MBC community, the upper age limit for those applying under this quota is 26 years. The three women, with help from Grace Banu, a trans activist and the founder of Trans Rights Now Collective, approached the Madras High Court in June 2019 with a plea seeking age relaxation for taking the exam.
“Our argument was that the upper age limit for destitute widows is 35 and for ex-servicemen is 45 years,” says Grace Banu to TNM, adding that they sought relaxation for the Thenmozhi, Saradha and Deepika to apply for the job on the grounds that they face marginalisation because of their gender. The plea was allowed by Justice Dhandapani in the last week of June, and Thenmozhi, Saradha and Deepika wrote the test. However, their woes did not end at that. On September 27, 2019 – the day of the results – they realised that their results were being withheld by the Board.
Forced to knock on the doors of the court, once again, they demanded that their marks be released. Following a court direction, the TNUSRB finally released their marks scored in the recruitment exams in October.
No call for Physical Fitness test
The three trans women had scored 30, 32, and 35 marks in their written test as against the cut-off for MBC candidates of 38 marks. “The cut-off for MBC candidates under sports quota, however, was 28 marks, and for destitute widow category was 29 marks. Hence, we filed a petition at the court stating that there are others who have lower cut-offs and hence we, from an oppressed community, need relaxation of cut-off marks,” explains Grace Banu.
In November, Justice M Dhandapani ordered the TNUSRB to allow Deepika, Saradha and Thenmozhi to undergo a physical test. However, they did not receive any calls for attending the fitness test. Hence they filed a petition in the court stating that the government was not following an earlier order, which came up for hearing on December 3. Justice Anand Venkatesh ordered that TNUSRB must call all three trans women for fitness test by December 5, failing which he would be forced to stay the entire recruitment drive.
“On December 4, we spent the entire day in TNUSRB. They made us wait till the evening and then around 10 pm, they went to file an appeal before the Principal bench of the court seeking a cancellation of Justice Anand Venkatesh’s order. The appeal came up for hearing on Thursday before the Chief Justice bench, in which he directed the government to file a proper appeal by Thursday evening to hear the case on Friday,” Grace Banu says.
Need for separate reservation
Slamming the state government for resorting to discriminatory practices against transgender persons, Grace Banu says, “The govt had submitted that they have already recruited three transgender persons into the force in this drive, and that they do not need anymore transgender candidates. When the government does not restrict cisgender applicants just because they have filled the vacancies, why are they discriminating only against trans persons?”
She also added that this is why the community is seeking separate reservations in government jobs, which has not been addressed in the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill 2019. While the Supreme Court in its 2014 order directed governments to provide reservation for trans persons, this has not been done so far.
‘Am I fit only for begging?’
Speaking to TNM, Thenmozhi, one of the three petitioners in the case, says that each step towards a self-sustaining, financially independent life for her has been daunting.
“It feels like the government is telling us that we are fit only for begging. We want to live regular lives like everyone else, but the government is not thinking on the same lines. They are hell-bent on oppressing us to the lowest rung,” she says, adding that the entire ordeal is mentally unsettling and traumatic to say the least.
Pointing out that it took a lot of time for her to gain self-confidence to apply for a job,Thenmozhi says that she is fighting with the hope that she can also lead a normal, respectful life.
Source: The News Minute