The Bombay high court on Monday allowed 21-year-old Guwahati student Bidhan Barua to undergo the sex change surgery. Observing that there is no law that prohibits a sex change operation, the high court held that Barua is an adult and can take his own decisions.
In his petition, Barua had urged that his parents be directed to allow him to undergo a sex change operation. According to him, his parents were against the sex change operation and had been threatening him.
Advocate Advait Sethna, appearing for the Union government and state government pleader Madhu Kajale told the high court that they have no objection to the surgery.
“The Union and state government have no objection to the surgery. There is no law that prohibits it. The petitioner is a major and can take decisions for himself,” a division bench of Justices S.J. Vazifdar and A.R. Joshi observed.
The court has also directed him to file an application before the Colaba police station and the commissioner of police giving details of the threat that his faces from his parents.
In his petition, Barua, who likes to call himself Swati, alleged that his parents had thwarted him of the sex re-assignment surgery, which was to be performed at Saifee Hospital on April 17. He had claimed that his parents had threatened doctors who had refused to perform the operation unless the high court gives a go-ahead.
Barua is currently staying at a hotel in Colaba in south Mumbai.