April 18, 2024 08:34 (IST)
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Rajasthan: Transgender Ganga battles for police placement
Despite the Supreme Court ruling on transgenders being the ‘third gender’ and that they be given employment on the basis of third gender category, Ganga, a transgender from Rajasthan’s Jalore district, who has cleared her police recruitment exam in 2013 still awaits her posting. Rajasthan Post correspondent Rekha Pal traces her journey from her small, progressive village, where she had a normal childhood and growing up to the city arclights, where she is having to face a discriminatory policy regarding her gender.
For most of them it is a battle everyday. A fight against discrimination. A struggle against being ridiculed, bullied and scorned. But for 24-year-old Ganga, a transgender from Rajasthan’s Raniwada village in Jalore district, the story has been somewhat different. She has never faced such abuse in her life. Neither from her family nor from her village folks. Ganga has never been made to feel different from others. At least not till now.
So Ganga, who grew up in a healthy atmosphere, managed to clear her police recruitment exams in 2013 and subsequently her interview and medical tests too. But from then on, it has been downhill for Ganga. She has been facing a discriminatory attitude from both the police and administration, regarding her job. Though they promise her that the job will be hers subsequently, they now make excuses about her file being sent to home and personal department.
So Ganga, who grew up in a healthy atmosphere, managed to clear her police recruitment exams in 2013 and subsequently her interview and medical tests too. But from then on, it has been downhill for Ganga. She has been facing a discriminatory attitude from both the police and administration, regarding her job. Though they promise her that the job will be hers subsequently, they now make excuses about her file being sent to home and personal department.
The story of Ganga emerged at a time when Prithika Yashini, India's first transgender Sub Inspector, took charge in Tamil Nadu after she received her appointment order along with 21 others, after a legal battle, last February.
Ganga in Rajasthan knows her case is being viewed differently.
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All those who cleared the same exam along with her, have joined their posting in December, 2015. But Ganga till date awaits her posting. She has been to Jaipur thrice, seeking appointments from police officials, home department officials but everytime, the standard reply has been it is going to take time.
Ganga fails to understand the reason for the delay in her appointment. She asks: “There must be a time frame for my appointment. And why am I being singled out when everybody else who cleared the same exam have been given their appointments and have joined from Dec, 2015. Why is there so much prejudice prevalent even after the Supreme Court ruling on transgenders?
In a landmark judgment in April, 2014, the Supreme Court had created the “third gender” status for hijras or transgenders. Earlier, they were forced to write male or female against their gender. The SC asked the Centre to treat transgender as socially and economically backward.
The apex court had also said that transgenders will be allowed admission in educational institutions and given employment on the basis that they belonged to the third gender category.
Daughter of an illiterate farmer in Jalore, Ganga’s dream of taking up a police job is simply because of the stability that a government job provides. Ganga says: “ A government job means more security and reassurance in a society. But getting the job, it seems, more of a hassle now because of my gender.”
Ganga feels the rejection hard. More so because she has never faced any discrimination in her home or in her village. She has been to a regular school with other village children. At present, Ganga helps her brother out in his medicine shop.
Ganga says: “My parents although illiterate, always encouraged me to study. I went to school and college and have never faced any kind of teasing in my village. Now I help my brother run a pharmaceutical shop in the village. But I have always yearned for a government job.”
Ganga cleared the written police recruitment test in 2013. She went on to clear her interview in March 2015, her physical tests and her medical tests as well. A total of 108 posts for constables were up for grabs.
Ganga has been running from pillar to post, meeting the police, the state home ministry officials to enquire the delay in her postings. But every time she has met with a standard response that it is going to take time. Ganga was here in the first week of March, especially on the International Women’s Day but she received the same answers as always that her job/posting will take time.
Ganga says : “In the interview, I was asked whether I was really interested in doing a police job.”
When asked about the delay in Ganga’s appointment and whether Rajasthan police has any inhibitions regarding appointing a transgender, Manoj Bhatt, DGP, told Rajasthan Post : “I know about the case. The case is now with the home, personnel department. Although it may be the first case of appointing a transgender, Rajasthan police has no inhibitions on taking in such people.”
Ganga knows about the 2014 Supreme Court’s landmark order that created the “third gender” status for hijras or transgenders.
If Ganga gets her police posting, she would become the first transgender in Rajasthan to do so. Ganga has enough patience, she is willing to wait but ultimately may have to knock the court doors.
Source: rajasthanpost.com /TWF
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