NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Centre and the states of Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat on a plea by a transgender woman, alleging termination of her services from two private schools after gender identity got revealed.
A bench of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra sought a reply from the Centre and two States on a petition filed by Jane Kaushik.
The bench said that the grievance of the petitioner is that her services were terminated in schools of UP and Gujarat after her gender identity was revealed and that she cannot pursue her remedies in two different high courts.
The court scheduled the matter for consideration after four weeks.
In her plea, Kaushik contended that she was first fired by a private school in UPs Lakhimpur Kheri in December 2022.
Subsequently, she was told not to join by another school in Gujarat in July 2023 for being open about her gender identity.
Her plea filed by advocate Yashraj Singh Deora challenged the termination.
She decried the structural discrimination and harassment meted out to her because of her gender identity.
The petitioner sought proper guidelines from the Union government to ensure no other transgender person faced the difficulties she has gone through.
She claimed the actions taken against her were in gross violation of her fundamental right to equality and non-discrimination on the basis of gender.
She contended the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 was not being implemented in letter and spirit as there was a lack of will on the part of the Centre and states to ensure that transgender persons get their due.
