"Good petition": Supreme Court 3-judge Bench to hear plea to include intersex births and deaths in census

The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking directions for the recording of intersex births and deaths in the upcoming census [Gopi Shankar M v. Union of India and Ors.]

A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi ordered listing of the matter before a three-judge bench.

The order was passed after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, while pointing to the directions sought by the petitioner, asked that the case be placed before a larger bench.

CJI Kant agreed with the submission.

“It is a very good petition,” CJI Kant said, before directing that the matter be listed before a three-judge bench.

The petition was filed by Gopi Shankar M, an intersex activist and former South Regional Representative of the National Council for Transgender Persons, seeking directions for making provisions to record the births and deaths of intersex persons under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969.

“There is no provision of registering the birth and death of an intersex person under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969,” the plea states.

As per the plea, the existing forms use the term “gender” instead of “sex” and provide limited options.

It further noted that state forms also typically list “Male, Female and Transgender" and the same does not account for intersex characteristics.

“When an ‘Intersex’ person is identified as a ‘Third Gender’, the term itself gives a discriminatory message that an ‘Intersex’ person belongs to a ‘Third’ class/category of people," it was submitted.

According to the petitioner, the policy frameworks required for an intersex person is quite different from those required for the other set of people.

The petitioner also raised concerns about the impact of using the terms “sex” and “gender” interchangeably in laws and policies.

Thus, there should be provisions for issuance of identity cards carrying both ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ identities separately, it was contended.

The lack of it has resulted in intersex persons being grouped with other gender identities causing different legal and medical issues.

Due to the lack of data, intersex persons face difficulties in education and employment and admission forms and job applications often force children to choose between male and female categories.

As per the plea,

“Most of the Schools and colleges, by not providing an option other than Male or Female in the Sex column of their admission forms, in a way, are forcing a Child to only opt either a Male or a Female identity.”

Thus, the petitioner also submitted that directions should be issued to the Union government and various ministries to address gaps in law and policy affecting intersex persons, particularly in civil registration, population data, identity documents and healthcare.

[Live Coverage]