Sacked over gender identity? Transwoman teacher refutes ‘clean chit’ to school, says will continue fight
The district-level panel, appointed by National Commission for Women (NCW) Delhi, was investigating whether Jane Kaushik was sacked due to her gender identity.
LUCKNOW In a blow to Jane Kaushik, the transwoman teacher who was fired by a private school in Lakhimpur Kheri last year, the four-member panel probing her case gave a “clean chit” to the school in question on Friday and called her allegations “baseless”. The district-level panel, appointed by National Commission for Women (NCW) Delhi, was investigating whether Kaushik was sacked due to her gender identity.
However, Kaushik has said that she is not satisfied with the panel report and will continue her fight. “I’m not satisfied with the report that has been submitted. It is solely based on the statements given by the students and teachers who could easily have been influenced by the school authorities. The evidence I submitted to the independent committee constituted under the district magistrate was not given any consideration.” She added, “NCW has asked for my response to the report, and my lawyers and I are working on that now.”
For the unversed, Kaushik was hired as a Social Science teacher but the school authorities sacked her in less than a month. After she was sacked, Kaushik approached Delhi Commission for Women and then the local police. When school authorities were asked, they said that Kaushik was only good at teaching English but not one of the Social Science subjects. As the matter persisted, the school management filed a defamation suit worth ₹1 crore against her. They claimed that she was tarnishing the school’s reputation in society.
Meanwhile, the NCW also ordered the constitution of a four-member district-level panel to investigate the allegations. This panel gave a clean chit to the school on Friday.