The court affirmed that legal frameworks must evolve to recognize the identities of transgender individuals, particularly regarding parental status on birth certificates, to prevent prejudice against their children.

JUDGMENT :

1. In this case, an interesting, rare and exceptional issue has come up, that relates to the rights of transgender persons touching upon the necessity to safeguard their interests, when it comes to the question of the identity of their children who are born as normal persons. The essential issue to be dealt with in this writ petition pertains to the furnishing of the details of parents and their identities in terms of their gender, while issuing a birth certificate to a child born to the transgender parents.

2. The brief facts which are necessary to decide the issue are as follows: The 1^st petitioner was born as a female and as per the Secondary School Leaving Certificate, the gender of the 1^st petitioner was noted as female. Later the 1^st petitioner recognised herself as a male, as an inclination to be a male developed in her mind. Based on such desire, she had taken a decision to lead a life of a male and accordingly, she changed the name by adopting a male name. The transgender identity card issued by the District Magistrate as contemplated under the provisions of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 (hereinafter referred to as ‘Transgender Persons Act’) was also obtained in the form of Ext.P1.

3. The 2^nd petitioner was born as a male and in the Secondary School Leaving Certificate his gender was shown as male. Later, he identified himself as a female just the way the 1^st petitioner felt, and accordingly he decided to live as a female. Therefore, he adopted the name of a female. He also obtained a transgender identity card from the competent authority under the Transgender Persons Act. Exhibits P1 and P2 are the transgender identity cards of the 1^st and 2^nd petitioners, respectively. Both of them have obtained Aadhar cards in their favour, wherein, the gender of the parties is shown as male and female respectively. Exhibits P4 and P6 are the Aadhar cards of the petitioners 1 and 2, whereas Exhibits P3 and P5 are the Secondary School Leaving Certificates showing their gender at the time of their birth.

4. The 1^st and 2^nd petitioners started to live together and during this period, the 1^st petitioner (trans-man) became pregnant and delivered a baby boy on 08.02.2023 at the Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode. The 3^rd petitioner is the child born to the petitioners and the child is not a transgender child. Upon the birth of the child, the hospital authorities reported the birth to the 5^th respondent, the Secretary to Kozhikode Corporation, and the details of the petitioners and the birth of the 3^rd petitioner were incorporated in the Register maintained by the 5^th respondent under the provisions of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act 1969’) and the rules framed thereunder. In the details furnished, the 1^st petitioner was shown as the mother of the 3^rd petitioner and the 2^nd petitioner was shown as the father. Exhibit P7 is the birth certificate of the 3^rd petitioner, issued by Kozhikode Corporation on 17.02.2023, which contains the details as referred to above.

5. The grievance highlighted by the petitioners is follows:

Now the 1^st petitioner, who is described as the mother of the 3^rd petitioner in Ext.P7, is leading the life of a male, with an identity of a male and the 2^nd petitioner, who is described as the father of the 3^rd petitioner, is leading a life of a female, with an identity of a femal