Mumbai woman cop can keep job after sex change; CM gives nod

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, November 23

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday intervened to allow a woman constable to keep her job after undergoing a sex change operation.

Constable Lalita Salve from the state’s Beed district had sought the permission of her superiors to undergo the procedure and applied for leave accordingly.

However, the police department rejected Salve’s application and warned her that she would be sacked if she went ahead with the surgery.

However, after reading reports of Salve’s plight, Fadnavis intervened and asked the Director General of Police to make an exception in her case so that she could continue in service as a male constable.

“The police department had turned down Lalita Salve’s plea to continue in service as a male constable because the eligibility criteria for male constables are different,” Fadnavis told reporters here.

Both men and women police constables have different height and weight requirements.

The chief minister said the constable’s request was considered since it was one among rarest of rare cases.

Salve, who has announced that she would take the name of Lalit after the surgery, is currently posted in the Majalgaon city police station in Beed.

She had sought a month’s leave for the surgery and had moved the Bombay High Court after her leave application was turned down.

According to sources here, Director General of Police Satish Mathur will soon give the go-ahead to Salve, who had joined the police force in 2010.

Salve, 29, in her petition had stated that she had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and advised sex reassignment surgery by doctors.

She had been undergoing counselling sessions with psychiatrists at the JJ Hospital, her petition said.