Transwoman Won Legal Battle Against West Bengal Public Service Commission

Atri Kar, a transgender woman, has fought and won a legal battle against the West Bengal Public Service Commission for incorporating the third gender beyond the binary in the application form for examination.

Atri also sat for the Railway Board recruitment examination. However, when the results of the first round were published, she was treated under the general category and there was no reservation for Transgender community. Hence, she was not permitted to sit for the examination which is to commence from 17.01.17.

Challenging the same, Atri Kar filed a Writ petition before the Hon’ble High Court at Calcutta through Aindreela Chakraborty, advocate working with HRNL, Kolkata. Kaushik Gupta appeared on 16.01.17 along with Aindreela Chakraborty before Justice Debangshu Basak and upon hearing Justice Basak directed the Railways Recruitment Board to permit Atri to sit for the second round of examination without prejudice to the rights and contentions of the parties. The Court was also pleased to direct the board to file affidavits in due course.

Courtesy: K. Gupta