Away from the mud slinging of mainstream politics, India continues to become a more liberal, a more tolerant society. Vineet Bhalla of Scroll informs us that the Kerala “High Court changed the birth certificate of the biological child of a trans couple so that it lists both as ‘parents’, rather than ‘mother’ and ‘father’.”
Zahhad and Ziya Paval moved court in 2023. “In a landmark decision, Justice Ziyad Rahman AA of the Kerala High Court directed the Kozhikode Municipal Corporation to issue a new birth certificate for their daughter, Zabiya: one that removed the columns for “father” and “mother” and simply listed Zahhad and Ziya as her “parents”.”
Zahhad and Ziya’s story highlights how much India has progressed in recognising the rights of transgenders:
“Zahhad and Ziya met through social media and have been together since 2020. They live together in Kozhikode. Zahhad comes from a Christian family in Thiruvananthapuram and Ziya from a Muslim family in Malappuram.
Both of them possess transgender identity cards issued under the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019. Zahhad’s Aadhaar card lists his gender as male and Ziya’s shows hers as female.
Under the 2019 Act, applicants not need to undergo sex reassignment surgery or any other medical procedure in order to obtain a transgender identity card. Similarly, self-identification is sufficient for gender change on an Aadhaar card…
But the birth of a baby girl in 2023, brought a new, unexpected hurdle.
“It was a very difficult moment when we saw the birth certificate, listing me as mother and Ziya as father,” Zahhad recounted. The document, a foundational identity paper, fundamentally misgendered them. It reversed their lived realities – Zahhad as a trans man and Ziya as a trans woman – and locked them into gender identities they had fought to move beyond.
Their immediate concern was for Zabiya. “We knew that Zabiya could face a lot of difficulties getting an Aadhaar card or passport and other primary documents because of the mismatch between our gender identities and our gender listed on her birth certificate,” Zahhad said. “This was our main concern.”… “We also knew that this would be favourable to the whole trans community.””
The couple turned to Padma Lakshmi, India’s first transgender lawyer. Padma Lakshmi said: ““Finally, Justice Rahman understood that this is the life of a transgender person. They need support from our society.”… Rahman’s judgment responded to the legal challenge with judicial empathy and progressive interpretation. Instead of seeing the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 as a rigid text, the court viewed it as a “living organism” that must adapt to societal changes.”
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