A first in Punjab: Transgender starts hearing cases at Lok Adalat in Ludhiana

The District Courts set up a rare example by appointing a transgender as one of the three members of a bench to hear cases at National Lok Adalat.

As litigants thronged the district courts for hearing of their pending cases at National Lok Adalats on Saturday, they were surprised to see a transgender as a member of one of the benched constituted to hear the cases.

Mohini (second from right), who has been made a member of the Lok Adalat, hearing cases on Saturday. She is Punjab’s first transgender person to have been appointed to the post. (HT Photo)

The District Courts set up a rare example by appointing a transgender as one of the three members of a bench to hear cases at National Lok Adalat held on Saturday. Mohini became the first transgender in Punjab to be part of the bench. She heard cases ranging from recovery suits to divorce cases for six hours on Saturday, starting at 10am.

Only a month ago on June 7, district and sessions judge Gurbir Singh had announced that they will be making people from the transgender community a member of Lok Adalat. He had stated this at a seminar in which transgenders had expressed how they were discriminated by the society as no one wants to give them their due rights. Four years ago, the Supreme Court had recognised transgenders as the third gender.

Expressing her joy at being appointed as a member, Mohini, who hails from Rajasthan and has done her Masters in Arts (MA) in public administration through correspondence from Maharaja Ganga Singh University in Bikaner, said she felt privileged on being appointed as a member as generally people belonging to their community are not given their due rights and have to fight for it. Mohini is pursuing her PHD in public administration and also holds a Masters of Social Work (MSW) Degree besides the MA.

“I felt deeply honoured after being appointed as a member of the Lok Adalat. Though I am new to the job, it is quite a learning experience. I heard one divorce cases which was pending for long and the couple finally parted ways today. Other cases were recovery suits by banks and financial firms,” said Mohini.

Mohini was part of the three-member bench presided over by judicial magistrate first class Rajinder Singh Teji and advocate Reema.

“All the litigants were expressing surprise on seeing me. Some even made queries and talked about how education is very important,” added Mohini.

Chief judicial magistrate-cum-secretary district legal service authority Gurpreet Kaur said one of the members of Lok Adalat bench comprises of a social worker engaged in the upliftment of the weaker sections and interested in the implementation of legal services schemes or programmes and as Mohini is a graduate she was apt to be appointed for the post.

A total of 3234 cases were amicably disposed off at the Lok Adalats on Saturday.