27-year-old Yashika is a trans woman pursuing her Masters’s in Human Rights and Duties from Panjab University. She enrolled in Panjab University in September 2021. After which she wrote an application for hostel accommodation in the university, but six months have passed, still she has not got accommodation at the hostel. She alleges that she is facing this problem just because she is a trans woman.
Speaking with HW News, Yashika said that her financial condition is not so good. Being trans, she does not get a job easily anywhere. Yashika wants to do a Ph.D. and wants to make a different identity in society. Therefore, five years after graduation, Yashika was determined to complete her further studies.
Yashika said that when she got admission to Panjab University, she was very happy because she had completed one milestone in her journey. But she said that she didn’t know that even after coming here, she would have to fight a battle to stay here.
Yashika said that due to poor financial conditions, she cannot even stay outside the university. University is her only hope. She said that she has been writing a letter for hostel accommodation in the university for the past several months but till now she has not got the hostel. Yashika said that she had written the first application in September. After that, she had written a letter to the Deputy Commissioner and ADC of Chandigarh and informed them about this. But when nothing happened, she wrote a letter to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in December. After which the answer came from the university that they are finding a solution to this problem.
Staying at a hostel is a big problem for a transgender, Yashika said. Colleges/Universities do not build gender-neutral hostels. Yashika has written a letter to the university demanding a gender-neutral hostel wing. Yashika said, “The problems I am going through, I do not want other people like me to have to bear this”.
She told that the rest of her batchmates have got hostels. She said that earlier there was no problem as there used to be online classes, but now offline classes have started, and due to the non-availability of hostels, her studies are getting affected.
Yashika used to stay with some of her friends for so long. After a lot of difficulties Yashika got very upset because of all this. She got a place in the guest room of the university but Yashika said that on March 18, she was removed from there too.
“What I demand is just a room in which I can study. Legally we get rights but the ground reality of those rights is totally different. I just want to study and do something for myself and others like me,” Yashika said.
If we talk about rights, then on 15 April 2014, the Supreme Court had given a historic verdict, in which the Supreme Court recognized transgender as the third category of gender. Referring to Articles 14, 16, and 21 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court directed the central and state governments to provide all facilities related to education and health care to transgenders. The transgender community was described as a socially backward community.
According to the World Health Organization, ‘transgender’ is an umbrella term that includes all people whose perception of gender does not match the gender assigned to them at birth. For example, a person born as a male can identify with another gender i.e. female.
Whereas the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill 2016, states that a transgender person is one who is partly female or male; or a combination of female and male; or neither female nor male. In addition, the person’s gender must not match the gender assigned at birth and includes trans-men, trans-women, persons with intersex variations, and gender-queers.
It was only after 2014 that Yashika said that she got some courage because legally she and the people of her community had got recognition. After which in the year 2016, Yashika shared this truth with her family members for the first time. But Yashika’s family did not accept her as such. Yashika was forced to leave her house. After which she came to Delhi at a friend’s place. Yashika told that she did her graduation with a male identity, then she was Ashish Kumar, not Yashika. Till then there were not so many problems, but as soon as she decided that she would not hide her identity now, her life struggles began.
Yashika said that at such times you need family support, but I had no family. But now I don’t remember anyone because they didn’t respect me. Sometimes I miss my mother because she was the one who used to understand me. When she left, the meaning of family ended for me. Now I just want to become something in my life.
The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill 2019 says that discrimination against transgender persons in areas such as education, employment, and healthcare will be prohibited. Despite that, a transgender person has to face many problems in these areas in life. Legally they have got their identity but socially they have a long way to go in getting their identity.
The team of HW News has questioned Punjab University for Yashika’s complaint through mail and phone call. Till now we haven’t got any answer from University, as soon as we get an answer from the university we will update this article.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
