How can name, gender be changed in records retrospectively: HC to transgender

A transgender, who lived as a male till attaining adulthood in 2012 and was now seeking to be identified as a female, was today asked by the Delhi High Court how could a change of name and gender be done retrospectively.

"How can your past be changed? ... How can the changes be brought about retrospectively," a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shanker asked.

The court was referring to the transgender's plea seeking change of name and gender in the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Delhi University (DU) records.

The petition has alleged that the criteria laid down by the various authorities for changing of name and gender were "arbitrary and unreasonable".

It pointed out that while the university norms say that for change of name and gender, it has to be first altered in the records of the CBSE, the guidelines of the Board say that such a request for changes in its records would be entertained only if it is made before the publication of examination results.

The PIL, filed through advocate Yashraj Singh Deora, also said that the Department of Publications of the Centre required that a sex reassignment surgery should be undergone before the change of name and gender.

It has also claimed that the Supreme Court had in 2014 held that insistence on a sex reassignment surgery for declaring one's gender was illegal and immoral.

The petitioner has contended that the guidelines under challenge were "depriving her of the right to live with dignity and to self identify her gender, which is different from the one assigned at birth".