Chennai- In a significant development for transgender rights in professional education, the Madras High Court has taken up the case of a transgender medical graduate facing systemic discrimination from her alma mater. Justice C. Kumarappan issued notices to the Tamil Nadu Health and Family Welfare Department, Social Welfare Department, and Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Medical College in Perambalur, directing them to respond by August 7.
The petitioner, a 25-year-old transgender person who completed her MBBS and compulsory rotating medical internship (CRMI) at the private medical college, finds herself in professional limbo due to the institution's alleged refusal to release her original educational documents. These include her Class X and XII certificates submitted during admission in 2019, which the college continues to withhold despite her having completed the course in May 2025. This administrative roadblock prevents her from obtaining permanent registration with the medical council, effectively barring her from medical practice.
Sharing her grievance with The Mooknayak, the student explained the systemic institutional barriers faced by transgender students in professional education.
The transgender student, faced significant challenges due to the lack of gender-neutral accommodation at their college hostel, despite repeated requests made in July 2024, October 2024 (04.10.2024 and 17.10.2024), and subsequent intervention by the District Collector in November 2024, which resulted only in a separate room within the male hostel rather than a truly gender-neutral facility.
This forced the petitioner to use the men's washroom at their workplace, exacerbating the continuous harassment, intimidation, and hostile environment they endured for months due to their gender identity.
Financially, the petitioner struggled with arbitrary fee demands from the college, including a Rs.4,25,000 development fee claimed in December 2024, which was not disclosed in the Bonafide Certificate dated 19.09.2024, despite the petitioner's explicit request to include all pending fees for scholarship purposes.
Despite clearing their fifth-year fees of Rs.12,75,000 through a government scholarship of Rs.4,75,000, as acknowledged on 18.10.2024, the college issued a new Bonafide Certificate on 11.04.2025, inflating the total fifth-year fees to Rs.16,75,000 and adding Rs.4,00,000 in hostel fees not previously mentioned.
A No Dues Certificate dated 26.05.2025 further claimed an arbitrary pending fee of Rs.6,49,511, despite the petitioner’s several representations requesting a waiver or inclusion of these fees in scholarship applications. The ongoing harassment, coupled with the petitioner’s unpaid and overworked internship, culminated in a suicide attempt on 22.01.2025, highlighting the severe emotional and financial toll of the college’s actions and lack of support.
What makes this case particularly egregious is the complete breakdown of grievance redressal mechanisms at multiple levels. The petitioner exhausted all administrative avenues before approaching the court, having made six written complaints to college authorities, representations to the Tamil Nadu Medical Council, appeals to the Directorate of Medical Education, petitions to the District Collector's office, and requests to the Social Welfare Department. Despite this comprehensive effort, no concrete resolution was offered, demonstrating systemic indifference to transgender students' rights.
The legal framework invoked in this petition is robust, drawing upon the landmark NALSA judgment (2014) that recognized transgender rights, the Transgender Persons Act's specific provisions against educational discrimination, UGC regulations prohibiting document withholding, and the National Medical Commission's anti-discrimination guidelines. This multilayered legal approach reflects the gravity of institutional failures in this case.
This case brings into sharp focus several systemic issues in India's medical education landscape. It exposes the structural barriers still faced by transgender persons in professional courses, the lack of effective grievance redressal mechanisms in colleges, the urgent need for stricter regulation of private medical institution fees, and the implementation gaps in transgender welfare policies despite progressive legislation.
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