3 transwomen allowed to take constable exam

The transwomen, Deepika (27), Saradha (29) and Themozhi (29), filed a plea seeking to relax the upper age limit for transgenders to 45 years as provided to other categories of applicants like SC/ST, destitute widows and ex-servicemen. When it came up for hearing on Tuesday, Justice V Parthiban permitted them to attend the written exam in an interim order.

Deepika of Aminjikarai submitted that on March 6, TNUSRB called for applications for the post of Grade II Police Constable (AR) to fill 2,465 vacancies from women and transgender applicants. But being part of the denotified community, the age limit applicable to her was 26 years while her present age is 27. Hence, she was unable to upload her application online, she said.

Further, pointing out that the upper age limit prescribed for other categories of applicants was higher – 29 years for SC/ST persons, 35 years for destitute widows and 45 years for ex-service personnel – she said it was unfair that no separate age relaxation of any kind has been provided to transgender persons as they have simply been grouped under Most Backward Classes (MBC) category.

Based on this, she sought the court to allow her and other transpersons to take the written examination though the last date for filing online applications was over.