Maharashtra Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni informed the Bombay High Court that the Maharashtra government has initiated an appointment of a woman to a non-constabulary post of a junior typist who was earlier denied police job as she was medically found to be a man.
The woman had participated in the 2018 Nashik Rural Police recruitment drive from the Scheduled Castes (SC) category and had qualified but was medically found to be a man. The woman had then approached the High Court which two months ago had directed the police department to expeditiously implement the decision of Maharashtra government for her appointment.
The High Court was informed that the woman was not recruited, as a medical test had opined that she was a man and her qualification marks did not make the cut-off meant for the men’s category.
The High Court in its May order had noted that the 19-year-old had been living her life as a woman, till she got to know about the medical examination result. The woman was present in court during the hearing on Monday wearing a salwar kurta and a dupatta. The woman had said that her parents work as sugarcane cutters and she needed the job to get some steady income for her family.
Kumbhakoni told the division bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Sharmila Deshmukh on Monday that Joint Secretary, Home Department had written to the Additional Director General of Police (Training and Special Squads) about the appointment of the woman to a non-constabulary post.
The state government said that it had decided to make an exemption for the petitioner based on a special case to appoint her as junior typist in the office of Police Inspector, Nashik (Rural) and she has to avail the qualification for the same within one year. The government added that the appointment of this woman cannot be construed as precedent for further cases.
Based on government communication, the Additional DGP Sanjay Kumar had directed the Nashik Police (Rural) to initiate the process to give effect to the appointment of the woman. Kumbhakoni said that for the recruitment, the woman, will unfortunately have to go through medical tests again, but the appointment process has begun and is likely to be completed in two weeks.
The bench decided that it would not dispose of the petition but keep it pending till the woman is formally recruited. The bench will next hear the plea on August 18. The bench also asked the woman’s lawyer, Vijaykumar R Garad, for the petitioner, to find out if there is any “difficulty in adhering” to the recruitment process.
The woman had undergone medical examination at JJ hospital in Mumbai and later, the National Institute of Immuno Haematology (NIIH) conducted a Karyotyping test (to examine chromosomes) on her, which showed that her blood had “XY” chromosomes. The JJ hospital wrote to the SP of Nashik Police (Rural) saying that it was of the opinion that the petitioner was a man.
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