Patna: A woman underwent a sex change operation and was soon without a job.
An official in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand underwent sex reassignment surgery — also known as genital reconstruction surgery — last year.
Twenty-eight-year-old Pratibha Tiwari had been appointed "lady supervisor" in the Women and Child Welfare Department, but in March last year she underwent sex reassignment surgery, and took on the name Pranay Tiwari.
Tiwari was happy in his new avatar, with a shirt and pants replacing the usual salwar-kameez outfit he wore as a woman, and was ready to resume work. But he was denied a job – the post of lady supervisor is reserved only for women, and his operation had disqualified him.
As repeated requests to assign him a "man's job" went in vain, the bewildered official requested his department to allow him to continue as "lady supervisor" until he found a suitable job. But this request was turned down, too.
Eventually, the official rushed to the office of the chief minister, seeking his intervention. He petitioned the chief minister’s office in November last year.
After weeks-long deliberation, the official has been reassigned to the job of statistical assistant in the same Women and Child Welfare Department. He was given the new job after permission from the Personnel and Law Department.
"This is the first time that we received such a peculiar case," an official in the chief minister’s office said.
