Sex change surgery: HC asks Beed constable to approach 'proper' bench

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court will, on November 30, hear a plea by a woman constable from Beed, Lalita Salve, who wants permission for leave to undergo a sex reassignment surgery. The matter, scheduled for Monday, shuttled between benches as it was sought to be reassigned to one hearing service matters.
Filed as a writ petition, it was to come up before a bench of Justices S S Kemkar and Girish Kulkarni but Salve's lawyer Ejaz Naqvi was told as it is a 'service issue' it will have to be before a bench headed by Justice S C Dharmadhikari.She was recruited as a woman constable but her September plea for leave and request to continue as a male constable post surgery, was rejected on November 20 by the police. She then moved the HC.
When advocate Naqvi tried to mention her plea citing urgency, before a bench headed by Justice Dharmadhikari, he was asked which service was Salve in. The court said if it is a service matter the advice would be to go Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal. But Naqvi said it was an issue of Salve's "personal liberties". "A right to undergo a surgery to choose a gender would fall under right to life. All she wants is to lead a respectable life, sans any stigma," he said later.
Naqvi later said the matter filed against DGP Maharashtra state, has now been listed by the HC for hearing on November 30.