Skip to content Skip to navigation

India’s Third Sex, citizens without rights

Their face is their fortune. Lipsticks and powder are their regular items. Their ill-fitted blouses and colourful saris make them awesomely beautiful as they walk the streets for their livelihood. It’s estimated, India has 1.2 million eunuchs (transgenders). Yet, even after sixty years of India’s independence, no official data has ever been made to estimate the actual existence of eunuchs so far. Of this ninety-nine percent of eunuchs are either illiterate or semi-literate, having no source of income, except begging. Nearly 90% of Indian eunuchs live in poverty in grief condition. Their survival is through begging, entertaining in marriages/parties, blessing newly born child, prostitution, or other illegal jobs. They are called by different names such as chhakkas, Durani in Kolkata, menaka in Kochi, meti in Nepal, zenana in Pakistan.



Eunuchs in India have virtually no safe spaces, not even in their families, where they are protected from prejudice and abuse. It’s a history now that India’s hijra community has a recorded history of more than 4,000 years. They were considered to have special powers because of its third-gender status and enjoyed a proud place in Indian society, gaining trusted positions in royal courts protecting the nobility's harems or zenanas. They were even regarded as trustworthy because of their impotence and many rose to powerful court positions. However, today their sexual status is not recognized constitutionally. Rather, consider to be social outcaste, deprived of social status and other civil and legal rights because Indian law recognises only two sexes. Frankly, this means that hijras do not have the right to marry and own a ration card, a passport or a driving licence, or claim employment and health benefits.



The People’s Union for Civil Liberty report shows that this prejudice is translated into violence, often of a brutal nature, in public spaces, police stations, prisons and even in their homes. The main factor behind the violence is that society is not able to come to terms with the fact that hijras do not conform to the accepted gender divisions. In addition to this, most hijras have a lower middle-class background, which makes them susceptible to harassment by the police. The widespread discrimination based on their class and gender makes the hijra community one of the most disempowered groups in Indian society. The hijras in India find it hard to get a good education. Employment opportunities are very rare. Most public and private companies use several excuses to deny employment. The end result is that they are forced into prostitution. The entertainment industry in India portrays them as a butt of ridicule. They are mostly used in farce situations. Most young children learn about eunuchs through mainstream movies. The only thing they learn from them is that they are something to be joked upon on. It must also be noted here that several movies during the past decade have raised the issue of eunuchs in Indian society.



Eunuchs were given voting rights in 1994. Shabnam Mausi was the first eunuch elected from the Sohagpur constituency in Madhya Pradesh state's Shahdol district in 1008. Her success story as an MLA has inspired a lot of Hijras in India to take up politics and participate in 'mainstream activities' in India, giving up their traditionally roles as dancers, prostitutes, and beggars, living on the fringes of Indian society. Of late the hijra community has begun to mobilise themselves through the formation of a collective effort. Sangama, an organisation working with hijras, kothis and sex workers in Bangalore, has played an important role by helping them organise and fight for their rights. In December 2002, the community and in Bangalore formed a collective called Vividha, demanding repeal of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. It has also demanded that hijras be recognised as women, be given equal opportunities, with entitlement to housing, employment benefits and rail travel concession.



Though, in parts of north and central India, hijras, who have contested and won elections to local and State bodies, had to face legal challenges due to their sexual status. It’s fact that in February 2003, the Madhya Pradesh High Court struck down the election of Kamala Jaan as the Mayor of the Municipal Corporation of Katni. The court's logic was that since Kamala Jaan was not a woman, she could not contest the seat, which was reserved for women. Recently, on January 2009, eunuchs have moved the Supreme Court seeking their education, social and political rehabilitation, including reservation of seats in Parliament, state assemblies and legislative councils. The petition filed by Sonam Singh, from Rajasthan has sought a direction to the Union Government to constitute a National Kinner Ayog or Commission to take up the rehabilitation of the neglected population by providing them reservation in jobs, education and Parliament, assemblies and legislative councils. In a petition filed through counsel Santosh Kumar Tripathi, Sonam Singh, who identifies herself as a woman, regretted that even the Election Commission has never decided the gender category of eunuchs and has been arbitrarily treating them as female/male without any reasonable or scientific basis.

Currently, Tamil Nadu, which has the highest number of eunuchs, is the only state India to recognized transgenders as a separate sex. They officially identified as ‘T’ in official forms. The state government has also set up a special welfare board for the community and has several schemes for them, including separate voter identification cards, ration cards and free sex correction operations. Recently, it has allotted Rs. 1 crore for a housing project and the Chennai Municipal Corporation sanctioned Rs. 45 lakh for a noble project to build three public toilets for eunuchs. However, last project has triggered a statewide protest fearing that separate toilets would perpetuate marginalization even more.



This is only a small step for the welfare of this socially deprived group. It should be an eye opener to change the mental psyche that it’s time not keep them isolate or mock them in the public places, but to accept them as normal beings. One way of solving them, is to through special provision in terms of education, employment and legal opportunities. After all, they are also citizens of the country, deserve every human rights guaranteed by the constitution. Stop harassment. One eunuch blogger writes in a poetical language, “to be or not to be, says the hijra. Just let me be. A hijra totally free. Third gender mutually coexisting form here till eternity. Neither man nor woman, just me. Trust me, accuse me…..”

Author info

Monjib Mochahari's picture

Add new comment

Random Stories

Fresh violence erupts in BTAD areas

29 Aug 2012 - 12:26am | editor
Fresh incidents of violence takes away the chance of peace in Kokrajhar, Chirang, Bagsa and Dhbubri districts when the All Assam Minority Students' Union’s bandh call disrupted normal life...

BJP alternative party in Assam

28 Nov 2015 - 6:59pm | Hantigiri Narzary
BJP is alternative party in Assam as ruling Congress has failed to meet up aspiration and hopes of the citizens in the state. Thus said Mohendra Singh, National General Secretary and Assam In-...

KMSS protesters courted arrest

13 Mar 2014 - 1:02pm | AT News
Over 300 KMSS activists were courted arrest in Guwahati on Friday when they staged dharna demanding immediate arrest of Chief minister and revenue minister in connection with the recent self...

Singh to attend NE CMs’ meet

9 Jul 2015 - 7:06am | AT News
Union home minister Rajnath Singh will be on a visit to the state on July 11 to review the law and order situation in the north eastern region. After arriving in Guwahati, Singh will address the...

Other Contents by Author

Situation in Udalguri district, Assam is taking a different turn following arrest of an alleged child lifter (Hopadhara) in Udalguri on Friday. According to an inconclusive ground report, three of the accused, all from Udalguri town area, were trying to take away children from Kapurpara area which is two kilometres away from Udalguri town. They were chased and one of them was caught near the energy station in Golma Chowk, about less than half a kilometre from the Udalguri police station. The new Bolero, in which they were travelling, was set ablaze by the furious mob. The accused was taken away by police and admitted to Udalguri Civil Hospital for minor injuries. While two of the suspect...
Continuing violence against infants, girls and women are being reported on a daily basis makes me feel that India is suffering from female-hatred mania. In the last couple of months cases of rapes and assault have made it to the headlines with alarming frequency. In another shameful incidence, under the Meera Road police, Mumbai, on March 18, a father was arrested for allegedly raping his two daughters on the advice of a ‘tantrik' in an attempt to become rich for ten years. Shocking enough is the fact that mother was also a part of the crime. He first raped his elder daughter, now 23-year when she was just ten years old and continued for ten years. According to the sources, father was...
He would have saved many lives. He would certainly have given smiles to the sufferings. But it’s very unfortunate, on Sunday evening; Amann Kuchroo, 19 a first year medical students in Dr. Rajendra Prasad Medical College, Tanda, Himachal Pradesh was allegedly ragged to death by four seniors students. It’s deeply inconsolable to the Amann’s family that they lost their only son in such an inhuman manner. In the west it’s the frequent campus shoot-outs, whereas in India, it’s certainly the ceremonial and criminal raggings in academic institutions that turn students’ lives into nightmare. Though ragging has been strictly banned in some colleges and...
714 MILLION Voters will decide the fate of the formation of the next govt. Will loud election campaigns in the streets be a history? Surprisingly, the net-bug has bitten several politicians in the country. Campaigning for the forthcoming parliamentary polls, this time, is not just confined to streets, hoardings and loudspeakers. Quite a handful of politicians switching over to new media such as e-mail, webcasts, SMS, MMS, blogs, social networking sites to woo the largest possible voters, especially the younger lot in a quickest manner. In India more than 45 million people have access to Internet and of this 57 percent are aged between 18 to 35 years. For, NDA’s Prime Ministerial...
After series of terror strikes, which claimed more than 150 lives last year, the mysterious killing of at least seven people the last week of February has engulfed Guwahati city in fear and anxiety. The people who are in panic suspect it to be a serial killer. The target of the serial killer is so far the homeless pavement dwellers, beggars and daily labourers. The first incident of such type of killing was reported in the first week of January when a labourer was found dead in Fancy Bazaar in Guwahati. The series of killing indicates that all the victims have been attacked the same way and all of them were pavement dwellers and beggars. In all these attacks the modus operandi has been the...
It’s a matter of shame for the whole nation, the New York based antiquarian would be auctioning Gandhi’s belongings– a watch, a pair of sandals, a plate, bowl and a pair of glasses. It’s too precious for India too loose its national property. The debate that has been going on since the last few weeks has come to an end. According to reports, the government earlier thought it would be unethical affairs to partake in the auction of Mahatma Gandhi’s belongings, as it will encourage more people to come with such proposals in the future. To avoid this, the government made an appeal to the public to buy Gandhi’s belongings at the auction and hand it over to...
Analytically, it is useful to look at Tuesday’s murderous terror attack on Sri Lankan cricketers near the Gaddafi Cricket Stadium in Lahore in broad ways. First, the players were attacked attack because, the jihadi elements in Pakistan seem to have close proximity with the Sri Lankan LTTLE, who are now fighting a loosing battle against the paramilitary forces. Of late, it’s known that large arms and ammunitions of Sri Lankan Army come from Pakistan. Sympathetically, the terrorists have taken this opportunity to put full stop in Pakistan’ foreign relations with the Sri Lanka government. Second, the terrorist target of a visiting cricket team was basically intended to...
It sounds stupid.It’s usually believed that teachers cannot be killer. It’s a fact, of course, requires no explanation. They are expected to be the architect of students’ fortune. Yet, it’s arguable that there is an overall increase in the frequency of cases teachers turning aggressive against own students. Of late, a physical training teacher of a private school in Amritsar mercilessly beat up a class nine student Amandeep fracturing his arm, for not wearing his turban to school. Worst still, the recent gruesome acts of violence against school children; a 35-year-old school teacher of a private in Ghaziabad murdered a class 7 student by slitting his throat. It...
As the nation is drawing closer to Lok Sabha polls, the BJP’s Prime Ministerial squad Mr. L.K. Advani, all of a sudden has become a tech-savvy. He is a virtual man at the moment. He is seen everywhere. He is in the newspaper, in the television, in the web and above all he is in the field, it seems as if the messiah has come for the common people. The man who is widely known for a different reason in the past, has he really become changed man? Or is it an Obama effect that is haunting him? Or has he learnt anything form Narendra Modi who did the same? It’s really amazing, a smiling face with a message “welcome to the website of Shri L.K. Advani”. If you happen to...
A Kama Sutra in NOIDA business school. It sounds funny, I suppose. But, going by the newspaper reports, arguably undeniable. A student circulates MMS clip of 23-year-old girlfriend after she refuses to continue her relationship with him. Still fresh yet, five years back a similar type of sex video clip was circulated by a Delhi school student broke the headlines. This time it’s has been reported from a premier business school in Noida. The video shows the woman stripping to music; the man apparently captured it on a cellphone camera. Is it a hot cake or breaking news? It’s certainly a matter of that school and college students are indulging in such deplorable activities. After...