Tamil Nadu takes a significant step in establishing gender equality in the state as it employs the first transsexual to serve the Indian government in a uniform. The transsexual community had gleeful faces on Sunday when K Prithika Yashini, 26, took charge as sub-inspector in Dharmapuri district in Tamil Nadu.
Soon after completing a year of training at Tamil Nadu Academy on Friday, Yashini reported on duty at the office of the Dharmapuri Superintendent of Police Bandi Gangadhar. She is posted in the law and order wing of the department. Yashini, who aspires to become an IPS officer said that she is committed to fighting foeticide and crime against women. She also plans to prepare for the civil service exam during her free hours.
“I am very happy for completing the training. It went well. Everybody was very cooperative and understanding,” she said after the passing-out parade which was witnessed by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palanisami, among others.
Yashini had grown up as a boy named Pradeep in Salem. She later acknowledged her sexuality when she was thirteen. Born in a lower-middle class family, her parents were taken aback when she proposed to change her sexuality by undergoing a surgery. From god to astrologers, everything failed to break her determination in embracing her true self. She then came to Chennai and was readily accepted by the transgender community in the city. The community helped him to become Prithika, who began her career working as a warden in a ladies hostel.
It would be untrue to say that the path to uniformed services was easy. Considering the conservativeness in every average Indian’s heart, for her to even write the TN Uniformed Services Recruitment Board exam office was a long legal battle. Challenges didn’t fade even with a court order in her favour. The board kept rejecting her application for irrational reasons. After many hurdles when she was allowed to participate in the field trials in August 2015, she was disqualified by 1.1 seconds in a 100-metre race. However, the court orders in her favour helped her sail through the situation, pushing her to achieve her dreams.
