Madras High Court directs T.N. Nursing Council to change a member’s gender from ‘transgender’ to ‘male’ in records

The Madras High Court has directed the Tamil Nadu Nurses and Midwives Council (TNNMC) to change the gender of one of its registrants from ‘transgender’ to ‘male’ in its records and mention only the latter in all the communications to the nursing council in Karnataka where the registrant has decided to migrate.

Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy ordered that the TNNMC should first effect the correction in its records digitally and physically, wherever it was necessary, by striking out the words ‘transgender,’ ‘transgender male,’ or such other descriptions and record the registrant’s gender as just ‘male.’

Thereafter, it must be ensured that the struck off portion or the correction was not conveyed to any other authority including the Karnataka State Nursing Council (KSNC) in Bengaluru so that no stigma gets attached to the registrant in view of his previous gender identification.

“In all the communications, henceforth, the writ petitioner should be described only as a male. Even the records that is being transferred to the Karnataka as per the procedure on the relevant columns, the petitioner should be described as a male. No note thereunder that petitioner was earlier described as a transgender and thereafter was declared under the male etc., should be made. It should be pure and simple male,” the judge ordered.

He also directed the TNNMC to comply with the corrections as per the court order and transfer the petitioner’s records to Karnataka within eight weeks. The orders were passed after being convinced with the arguments advanced by the petitioner’s counsel Chandini Pradeep Kumar assisted by K.R. Mhanasha Devi.

The counsel brought it to the notice of the court that their client had originally registered with the Tamil Nadu Transgender Welfare Board and was a transgender identity card under Section 6 of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019.

Thereafter, he underwent a gender affirmation surgery in 2024, changed his name in the official gazette and also obtained a gender identification certificate from a district magistrate under Section 7 of the Act. Nevertheless, since the prevalent environment and circumstances were hostile due to the petitioner’s gender and behaviour, he had now decided to move to a completely new environment in Karnataka.

While getting his registration transferred from the TNNMC to the KSNC, the petitioner did not want any mention with respect to his previous gender to be referred to in any record and hence the present writ petition.