Eunuchs can seek justice for offences against them: Bombay HC
PTI | 06:01 PM,Jan 24,2012Mumbai, Jan 24 (PTI) If eunuchs are insulted or humiliated, they can access their rights to approach the police and lodge a complaint, the Bombay High Court observed today, while hearing a public interest litigation, seeking fundamental rights for the oppressed community. "You (eunuchs) are equal under law. If an offence has been committed against you, then you can access your rights and approach the police. If the police refuse to take action then you can approach the court with your grievance," a division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice Roshan Dalvi said. The PIL, filed by a city-based NGO- 'Salvation of Oppressed Eunuchs', has, among other things, sought for sections 375 (rape) and 377 (unnatural sex) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) to be amended to include transgender and eunuchs in the definition of the term 'rape'. "In every other country, eunuchs have been included in the third category of 'transgender'. But in India, there are only two categories - male and female. It is insulting and humiliating, when they are addressed as 'chhakkas and hijdas' here," NGO member Piyush Saxena told the court. Additional government pleader G W Mattos and advocate for the Union government Rui Rodrigues sought time to take instructions and file reply, following which, the court adjourned the matter till March 3. "The atrocities and crimes, committed against eunuchs, should be taken seriously and the culprits should be punished. Even passing derogatory remarks should be punishable under law," the PIL states. The NGO has sought the court to direct appropriate authorities to ensure that the condition of eunuchs, living as the oppressed section, is ended and that even they be allowed to exercise the fundamental rights. The PIL, apart from seeking the right to create voter ID cards, has also demanded that the eunuch community be treated as minority and that the law applicable to the communities, such as the Scheduled Castes and Tribes should also be applicable to them.
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