Trans person undergoes gender correction; Madras HC directs TN Nurses Council to update gender as ‘male’

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court directed the Tamil Nadu Nurses and Midwives Council to correct all records of a petitioner, who underwent gender affirmation surgery and legally changed his name, to reflect his gender only as "male", and complete the process within eight weeks.

The petitioner, originally a transgender person, underwent gender affirmation surgery in January 2024 and legally changed his name.
Subsequently, he approached the court seeking a direction to the Tamil Nadu Nurses and Midwives Council to update all records pertaining to him, including his name, gender and photograph, to reflect his gender as male, and consequently issue a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) enabling the transfer of his registration to the Karnataka State Nursing Council.

Though he had duly applied, even in the communication requiring him to appear for verification, he was again described as a transgender man in the documents, forcing him to approach the court.

After hearing the petition, Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy directed the council to correct all records to reflect the petitioner as "male", either digitally or by scoring out terms such as "transgender" or "transgender male" in physical records.

The petitioner should be described only as "male" in all future communications and records transferred to Karnataka, without any reference to his earlier transgender identity. "It should be pure and simple male," the court said, directing completion of the exercise within eight weeks.