In A Path-Breaking Ruling, Madras High Court Rules That 'Hindu Bride' Also Includes Transwoman

In a path-breaking ruling, the Madras high court on Monday held that the term ¡®bride¡¯ as per the Hindu Marriage Act would also mean a transsexual, and not just refer to someone born as a woman. The court also ordered the state government to issue an order banning sex reassignment surgeries on inter-sex infants and children.

Justice GR Swaminathan, quoting from the Supreme Court judgments and epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, said the expression ¡®bride¡¯ in the Hindu Marriage Act could not have a static or immutable meaning.

Holding that the expression ¡®bride¡¯ would have to include not only a woman, but also a transwoman, the judge directed the authorities to register a marriage between Arun Kumar and Sreeja, a transwoman.

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The couple had moved the court after the registration department refused to register their marriage, held on October 31 at a temple in Tuticorin, and issue a certificate.

Justice Swaminathan also rejected the government¡¯s contention that the registrar of marriages had powers to refuse registration as the couple did not meet the statutory requirement of the Section 5 of the Hindu Marriage Act, as the term ¡®bride¡¯ can only refer to a ¡®woman on her wedding day.¡¯

¡®Intersex child entitled to stay with family¡¯

In this regard, the judge referred to landmark judgment by the Supreme Court, which upheld transgender persons¡¯ right to decide their self-identified gender.

Taking into account the stigma the transgender people battle and the ordeal they undergo after being forced to leave their homes, Justice Swaminathan directed the Tamil Nadu government to issue a GO banning sex reassignment surgeries on intersex infants and children.

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He held that it was the responsibility of the government to launch sustained awareness campaigns so that parents were encouraged to feel that the birth of an intersex child was not a matter of embarrassment or shame.

¡°Any intersex child is entitled to stay within the folds of its family. The running away to the margins and beyond is a fatal journey that must be arrested. Time has come when they are brought back from margins to the mainstream,¡± Justice Swaminathan observed.

As for the present case, the judge said that since they were also an inter-caste couple they were eligible for financial incentive under the Dr BR Ambedkar scheme for social integration through inter-caste marriages.

State directed to issue a GO banning sex reassignment surgeries on intersex infants and children.