The Centre and the Indian Navy have been asked by the Delhi High Court to submit their response on why a plea by a sailor, who changed his sex, against dismissal from service be not admitted.
A notice was issued to the Central Government and the Navy by a bench of Justice GS Sistani and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal to “show cause why the petition be not admitted”. The matter has been listed for further hearing on 26 April. The sailor lost the Navy’s job after undergoing a sex change surgery to become a woman.
Appearing for the former sailor, senior advocate Anil Grover told the court that his client had refused the Navy’s offer to arrange for him a job in a private company which works for the government. After this the court sought the response of the Centre and the Navy on the matter.
Earlier, the court was told by the Navy that while there was no job in the naval force for the former sailor, now a woman, it could facilitate her to get employment in a private company as a data entry operator.
Terming the offer as “unfair”, the senior advocate told the court on the last date of hearing that the job offered in a private company through the Navy would mean that his client would be paid a much less salary than what the former sailor was getting as an employee of the Navy.
The former sailor was dismissed from the Navy’s service as the Navy took the stand that there was no practice of having a woman as a sailor. It issued the dismissal order on 6 October 2017, which was challenged in the court. In her plea, the dismissed sailor claimed that she had been suffering from a gender identity crisis since 2011.