From the International News
SC directs govt to help eunuchs live with dignity
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
By By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the government to provide financial support as well as protection to eunuchs so that they could lead a respectable life in society.
A three-member bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Sair Ali and Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, was hearing a petition of Dr Muhammad Aslam Khaki.
The court directed the government to provide financial support to the transgender individuals from Baitul Maal or the Benazir Income Support Programme. The court also directed the Interior Ministry to issue instructions to the law-enforcement agencies to provide protection to eunuchs from 'Ghunda' elements.
Dr Aslam Khaki, while appearing before the court, submitted that eunuchs were deprived of their basic rights as citizens of Pakistan and were facing humiliation in society. He said the parents expelled them from homes due to their feminine characteristics like dancing and wearing feminine dresses.
He said they could opt for a specific sex through surgery. Dr Khaki further stated that there was no column in identity card to specify sex of the transgender individuals. Dr Khaki provided the court with an identity card on which the photograph tended to be that of a female while in the respective column gender of the bearer of the card was listed as male.
He further said eunuchs were not owned by their parents and were deprived of their share in property. At this, the chief justice observed that it was the responsibility of the parents and State to support and protect them.
The chief justice said the government could support eunuchs by providing them respectable jobs or financial support through the Income Support Programme or Baitul Maal, while the NGOs should also come forward.
He also directed the secretary social welfare to come up with projects for the social uplift of transgender individuals. The provincial departments of social welfare were also directed to provide lists of the registered eunuchs in the next hearing of the case.
Shazia, an educated eunuch, informed the court that transgender individuals born in well-off families were accepted, and added, "They get education and do jobs but those belonging to poor families resort to dancing etc for earning bread." She said they faced humiliation in society and torture at the hands of their gurus and other miscreants while the police too registered false cases against them. She said her father and brothers were not allowing her to enter home. The court adjourned the hearing till third week of August.
No comments:
Post a Comment