Nearly two years ago, the Supreme Court, in a landmark judgment, affirmed the rights of transgender persons in heterosexual relationships to marry under existing laws. Priti, 29, a transgender from Jamshedpur who aspires to be a beautician and is waiting to tie the knot with Pune-based Trinay, 34, a transman legally recognised as male on his Aadhaar card, however faces several challenges to exercising this right.
“I have my TG Identity card and like any other woman, I want to be a wife, parent, and live with my husband. However, it has been more than one and a half years since the judgment but our transgender community still awaits this right,” Priti said. She hopes to raise this issue at the 13th Annual Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, and Queer Pride March to be held in Pune on Sunday.
Priti, who has passed Class 12 and worked in the hotel management sector, is yet to be accepted by her family. “I am a transgender person, not a sex worker. I want to become a beautician and earn my living. Mujhe jeena hai (I want to live),” Priti said. She met Trinay on an online portal, and before long, they forged a deep connection as they opened up about their personal struggles, finding strength and understanding in each other’s stories.
Trinay, assigned female at birth, but who always felt like a male deep inside, had experienced several challenges due to his situation. “I wanted to pee like a boy, and wear tight T-shirts. Menstruation would give me panic attacks,” recalled Trinay, who works at a tech firm in the city. Deciding that he could not live this dual life anymore, he eventually transitioned to a male after undergoing gender affirming surgery.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Trinay said, “Priti and I have been doing the rounds of the marriage registrar’s office only to return disappointed. Instead of guiding us on the online application process and other details, we were asked to obtain a court order.”
The duo met Bindumadhav Khire, an LGBTIQ activist and director of Bindu Queer Rights Foundation, Pune, and spoke about their difficulty in registering their marriage under the Special Marriage Act, 1954. “Both of them have the requisite IDs. The transman has a collector-issued ID with gender stated as ‘male’ and the other transgender person has a collector-issued ID with the gender stated as ‘transgender’ as per provisions of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 and the corresponding Rules (2020). I too approached the Marriage Registrar, but was told that they have not received any notification with regard to the legality of registering the marriage of transgender people. So they have to obtain an order from the high court or a notification from the government in this regard,” Khire told The Indian Express.
The activist later filed a grievance in May on the Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System to the Ministry of Home Affairs/Legislative Matters seeking a notification by the central government, to all states and Union territories, on the legality of registering the marriage of a transgender person in a heterosexual relationship. Khire, who received a response on June 6, said that suggestions made in the grievance have been noted by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. “We now hope that action will be taken in this case,” Khire said.
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When contacted, senior lawyer Anand Grover said that as per the top court’s ruling, there was no legal prohibition on transgender individuals from getting married.
Meanwhile, at the Marriage Registrar’s office, authorities said that the process is now online and they have not received any application from transgender persons so far. While experts said it was likely that some registration offices may require guidance from higher authorities, if they have not previously handled such registrations, Khire said that it was important that LGBTIQ rights granted by the Supreme Court do not remain only on paper.
“This LGBTIQ Pride Month, it is important that LGBTIQ rights granted by the Supreme Court are implemented in letter and spirit. Transgenders who were granted legal recognition in the 2014 judgment (National Legal Services Authority v/s Union of India) still await their right to marry the person of their choice,” Khire added.
What the Supreme Court said in 2023
As per the Supreme Court judgment dated October 17, 2023, in the case involving one Supriyo Chakraborty, the apex court stated, “…..Consequently, we agree with the conclusion…that transgender persons in heterosexual relations have the right to marry under existing laws, including in personal laws regulating marriage. The court’s affirmation of the HC judgment in Arun Kumar v Inspector General of Registration…is based upon a correct analysis.”
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In Arun Kumar’s case, the Madras High Court had said in 2019, “A marriage solemnized between a male and a transwoman, both professing Hindu religion, is a valid marriage in terms of Section 5 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and the Registrar of Marriages is bound to register the same. By holding so, this Court is not breaking any new ground. It is merely stating the obvious. Sometimes, to see the obvious, one needs not only physical vision in the eye but also love in the heart.”
