Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 23: A Division Bench of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court comprising Chief Justice N Kotiswar Singh and Justice Wasim Sadiq Nargal has directed UT of J&K and UT of Ladakh to undertake further exercise to determine the number of transgenders in the respective territories.
The DB further directed the administration of both the UTs to issue advertisements by widely publishing in electronic as well as in print media seeking information about the transgenders which will not only help in determining the number of transgenders but wherever necessary they can be provided assistances by the concerned District Legal Service Authorities.
The DB also directed J&K State Legal Service Authority and Ladakh State Legal Service Authority to provide necessary assistance to any person who may claim to be a transgender and their particulars are also recorded by the administration.
The order has been passed in a PIL which has been taken up pursuant to certain direction issued by the Supreme Court in National Legal Services Authority Versus Union of India and others.
The UT of Ladakh has submitted its response enumerating various measures undertaken by the administration to deal with the issues pertaining to transgenders, however, in the response, it has been mentioned that the total number of transgenders is 6–4 in Leh and 2 in Kargil, which figure has been seriously contested by Iqral Khalid, who submitted that number is large and that these have not been properly identified.
Similarly, UT of J&K has filed the response in which it has been mentioned that there are 550 transgenders out of which 450 are in Kashmir Division and 100 in Jammu Division. This figure was also contended by counsel for the petitioner.
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