Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): A man, wanting to change his gender in passport from male to transgender, has put up his request on the concluding day of the two-day Passport Adalat at Regional Passport Office, Bhopal on Wednesday.
Regional passport officer, Rashmi Baghel said that the applicant wanted to change his name as well as gender. Previous passport of the applicant Sahil was issued under male category whereas now the applicant wanted a passport in the transgender category with changed name Reshma.
She further said that therefore, he was advised††to submit name change documents along with Transgender Identity Card issued by the Government of Madhya Pradesh and Form-3 (Certificate of Identity Rule 5 of 3 Identity Transgender Person) issued by the District Administration. This certificate has endorsement of all the details of applicant ' Previous identity and certifies new name and gender, Baghel added.
Baghel said society has become very open towards transgender in last five years. People donít feel ashamed sharing their identity. Many rules have been removed and laws were relaxed for transgender. I think this is a good gesture for society, the passport officer added.
Against 250 applicants, 40 applicants attended the Adalat on the second day. Most of the cases were put on hold due to pending court cases or adverse police reports due to difference in date of birth, suppression of current address etc.
There were five cases in which the mark sheets submitted by the applicants were found to be fake during verification. Therefore, their files were closed and in view of the age of the applicants, strict instructions were issued to the applicants not to use fake documents in future to avoid stringent legal action, said Baghel. 50 applicants had attended the first day of the Adalat on Tuesday.
