Members of the transgender community on Wednesday demanded that the Telangana State Police recognise them as a category in the recruitment process announced recently, and finalise guidelines to ensure that they are not deprived of an opportunity in the selection process.
A group from the community submitted a representation at the office of the Director General of Police here. “Despite Supreme Court judgment, Telangana government has yet not consulted the transgender communities to democratically formulate a comprehensive transgender policy. The High Court of Telangana too pulled up the government in our ongoing case of PIL — KMV Monalisa & Ors vs the State of Telangana,” said Vyjayanti Vasanta Mogli, representing Telangana Hijra Transgender Samiti.
Now, the Telangana police too have excluded transgender persons from the Telangana State Level Police Recruitment Board Notification-2022 on the vacancies of constables and sub-inspectors, Vyjayanti said.
“The last date for application under this heavily discriminatory, flawed and exclusionary process is unfortunately May 20. We demand that the police department include the option of transgender in the gender field on the recruitment form apart from male and female and ensure reservations for us in appointment, in line with the apex court’s judgment,” she said.
Vyjayanti said many from the trans community are eligible for the announced posts and it is their constitutional right to apply for the job to lead a respectable life.
President of Telangana Hijra and Transgender Samithi, Oruganti Laila said there are around 200 educated transgender persons eligible for the posts of constables and sub-inspectors. “We must have a special selection criteria. For that, they [the government] have to study our lifestyle, and include a third gender option in the application,” she said, adding that even their names in Class X memo and Aadhaar cards are different, as a result of which they are not eligible to apply.
Meanwhile, Kiran Raj Gollapalli, who represents the transgender men community, said that there are more than 1,000 transmen in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, and as they cannot compete with either males or females, the government must announce a separate criteria for them.
The members demanded that the government should come up with a solution at the earliest and recognise them.
