Bihar’s first: Third gender to participate in community marriage

Though transgender have been marrying quietly among themselves, this is the first time in Bihar that their marriage will be solemnised on a public platform.

In a first in Bihar, three transgender (TG) couples will formally tie the nuptial knot at a community marriage of 51 couples in Patna on June 25, said Mukesh Hissariya, a founder member of the Maa Vaishno Devi Seva Samiti, a not-for-profit organisation, on Thursday.

Transgender marriage was recognised by the Supreme Court in 2014. (HT Photo)

Though transgender have been marrying quietly among themselves, this is the first time in Bihar that their marriage will be solemnised on a public platform, as part of a community marriage, giving them social recognition and acceptance, said Reshma Prasad, a social worker, who espouses the cause of transgender.

“Among the transgender couples shortlisted for the community marriage are a transman with a transwoman, a transwoman with a man, and a transman with a woman,” said Reshma Prasad, secretary of the Dostana Safar, an NGO.

“Once the couples were ready for marriage, we approached the Maa Vaishno Devi Seva Samiti, and it agreed to include transgender in its community marriage initiative. We have to complete the formalities, including documentation, required to be done before their marriage is solemnised in June,” she added.

Transgender Monica Das, a banker in Patna, who was Bihar’s first transwoman to enter into a matrimonial alliance with a man in a community marriage of 12 transgender couples at Raipur, the first such initiative in India for the third gender in 2019, has welcomed the move.

“I had to go to Raipur for my marriage because of the lack of social acceptance of transgender marriage then in Bihar. I welcome the move to marry at the community level and hope the social acceptance of transgender marriage grows so that more people among the third gender feel encouraged to come forward for such alliance,” said Das.

Another transwoman Dimple Jasmine, also a member of the Bihar Kinnar Kalyan Board, a panel constituted by the state government to look into the welfare of transgender, also welcomed the move.

“A transgender has the same feelings, emotions and physical desire for the opposite sex as any other person. They have equal rights to marry. I personally feel the society should encourage transgender marriage,” said Jasmine.

Bharat Kaushik, founder member and coordinator of the Kinnar Adhikar Manch, a people’s movement, working for the uplift of the third gender, was equally appreciative of the move.

“Transgender marriage is not common. I have hardly come across any such formal transgender alliance in Bihar. The participation of third gender, who prefer to stay in a ghetto, in community marriage will not only encourage them to enter into more such formal alliances, but also grant their marriage social acceptance,” said Kaushik.

Transgender marriage was recognised by the Supreme Court in 2014. Prior to that, transgender marriage was not acknowledged to be a right, which was available to the third gender.

“The legislature, though, has not so far addressed this issue, which touches upon lives and liberty of an unignorable class of citizens forming the third gender. The Supreme Court acknowledged that transgender persons have the right to marry under article 21 of the Constitution of India,” said Abhinav Srivastava, a lawyer in the Patna high court.

“The Supreme Court has also held that transgender persons have the right to self-identify their gender. Upon decriminalisation of section 377 of the Indian Penal Code by the Supreme Court in 2017, consensual sexual acts between homosexual partners ceased to be an offence, and this further fortifies the rights of transgender persons to enter into a matrimonial alliance. But, unfortunately, the Parliament and state legislatures are yet to bring out enactments to grant legal sanction and social sanctity to the transgender marriages,” he said.

“We can only hope the State soon recognises their right to marry and manifests it by bringing about necessary legislative changes, which would pave the path for the much-needed social acceptance of that class of citizens and their rights as humans,” said Srivastava.

The Maa Vaishno Devi Seva Samiti, which works for the destitute through voluntary donations by businessmen primarily, has facilitated 488 marriages of destitute couple through 10 community marriages so far, generally in presence of the governor, chief minister or the deputy chief minister of Bihar, each time since 2010.

The samiti had to hold back its community marriage programme for the last three years due to outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, said Hissariya.

The samiti also runs the Maa Blood Centre in Patna, and charges processing fee only from those who can afford to pay at government rate, without insisting on donor for blood.