HC refuses to hear plea on sex change, man threatens suicide

Mumbai: 21-year-old Guwahati student Bidhan Barua, who feels he is a woman trapped in man’s body, today threatened to commit suicide after the Bombay High Court refused to hear his petition urging for a direction to his parents to allow him undergo a sex change operation. The matter was mentioned by Barua’s lawyer Ejaz Naqvi before Justices S F Vajifdar and A R Joshi who said “we are not going to hear it today”. The judges then adjourned the petition to May 7. Barua told reporters he had written letters to Chief Justice of India, Chief Justice of Bombay High Court and National Human Rights Commission urging them to intervene by this evening and grant him a favourable order so that he could undergo the sex change surgery or else he will commit suicide. [caption id=“attachment_296061” align=“alignright” width=“380” caption=“Barua had fled from his house in Guwhati to undergo the surgery in Mumbai. Representational image. Reuters”]  [/caption]Bidhan Barua, who likes to call himself Swati, alleged that his parents had thwarted the sex reassignment surgery which was to be performed at Saifee hospital here on 17 April. He claimed his parents threatened doctors who had refused to perform the operation unless the High Court gives a go ahead. Barua had contended in his application that he is female trapped in a male body and wants to marry a flight lieutenant in the Indian Air Force. In the letters to the Chief Justice of India and other authorities, Barua wrote, “I was due to undergo sex change surgery for which I left my job but my parents have blocked my bank account. I have no money to pay for the operation fees.” “For the last two weeks, I am running from door to door seeking injustice but the court does not have time to hear me. I do not have any money for my food, lodging. So I am finally requesting the court to pass an immediate order against my family or grant me an order for an authorised suicide”. “I will kill myself if I do not get an order for my surgery by this evening. For my suicide, the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court will be responsible”, wrote Barua and signed it under his name. Barua’s lawyer had told the High Court earlier that the parents of the petitioner had got his bank account frozen and were infringing upon his fundamental rights. Being a major, Barua was capable of taking decisions, such as the sex change operation, he said. Barua contended that he realised early in life that he was born in the wrong sex and preferred to dress like girls. This angered his parents who ill-treated him and beat him up, he alleged. Barua said it was in standard 7th that he learnt through the internet that medical science could provide a remedy to his problem through a sex change procedure and he decided to go for it. He did odd jobs after school hours to earn money for the operation which would cost him anywhere between Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh. On 2 March this year, Barua underwent a psychiatric test in Guwahati to check whether he was fit enough to undergo such a procedure. As the result was positive, he ran away from home on 31 March and came to Mumbai where he stayed with his cousin. However, his father Supti Ranjan Barua traced him to Mumbai. Barua, the youngest of three children in the family, said his father had threatened to kill him and his Air Force officer boyfriend if he underwent the sex reassignment procedure. He alleged that his father even threatened the doctors with dire consequences and asked them not to perform the operation. PTI