Kritika Singh, a 22-year-old transsexual girl changed the course of gender-based law by challenging the government policy on “Mandatory Sex Reassignment surgery certificate” (commonly known as SRS Certificate) for trans people while applying for the identity change on official papers. Earlier, it was necessary to produce the SRS Certificate to apply for gender and name change on the official documents. Kritika became the first person on the central gazette to get her name and identity changed without producing the SRS Certificate. This major achievement that has benefited thousands of people across the country was possible after a long-lasting legal battle with the government. She tells her story of grit and persistence in an exclusive interview with “The Logical Indian”.
About Kritika (name changed)
Kritika, who hails from Lucknow, came to Delhi at a tender age of 17. This phase of her life as she says was full of turbulence, confusion and struggle. Being a good student, she had successfully cleared the state entrance exam for engineering and was able to move out. As a teenager who was already battling the disconnect between her inner self and assigned sex, she had a lot of other struggles to cope with as well. “I had the body of a guy at that time so I had to stay in the boy’s hostel. I was mocked by my fellow hostellers for having an effeminate mannerism. I was depressed. There was nobody with whom I could share my feelings. On top of everything I had a career to establish,” she says.
Hardships
Kritika, who is now a shining example of courage for millions of people in this country, suffered acute discrimination and abuse before her transition. In an exclusive interview with The Logical Indian, she harks back to some bone-chilling incidences during her college days. She recalls how five men of the hostel attempted to rape her on the night of her electronics and communication examination. She says, “I had my EC paper the next day for which I was studying at 2 am in the night when four-five guys attempted to rape me. This happened when I was still a male. I could not understand who to complain. It was a time when people were alien to the idea that men can perversely leach over men. I wanted to commit suicide.”
Kritika aspired to become financially independent so that she could initiate her transition process from a male body to that of a female. But for her, things did not go as planned. “After the rape attempt, I left my studies and ran away. I flunked in my papers. I also had the pressure to repay my education loan. My plan to have a good career in order to start my transition was falling apart. As a guy, I was also expected to take care of my family. Among all this my battle of delinked mind and body was perpetual. Life had knocked me out on all fronts”, she said.
Journey from male to female (The transition phase)
After leaving the hostel, Kritika moved into a PG where she lived alone. She recalls, “In the PG, all that I had was my laptop, phone and internet. This was when I began to explore more about transitioning and my life took a turn.” The only impediment that towered in front of Kritika was the expense required to begin the medical transition of her body from male to female. She continued, “To save money, I literally stopped eating. I ate for only six to seven days a month. I saved money by not eating. Within half a year, I somehow managed to save about twenty thousand rupees. With that money, I was able to finally start my ‘female hormone induction therapy’ (2nd stage of the sex change process, 1st being the psychiatrist counselling important to determine the psychological state of a person to undergo transition).” The transition required Kritika to eat well which in turn required more money than what she had saved.
This was the time when her hunt for a job began. The grapple did not end there. People refused to give her a job. Not only this, she was asked to vacate the room thrice in different places because landlords were not comfortable renting it out to her. All, just for being herself! She did not give up and continued to look for a job even in the face of humiliation and discrimination. Eventually, she landed up a job at a call center and also managed to find a roof above her head in Lakshmi Nagar area, New Delhi. But the work atmosphere at the call center was not what she had expected. Her transitioning body was in the process of undergoing many changes. Development of breasts was one of them. She recalls the misconduct meted out to her by the security guards, “Waha ka male guard mujhe mere breasts pe touch kar ke maze leta tha (The male guard over there used to touch my breast area and take cheap pleasure). All my complaint fell on deaf ears.” Eventually, Kritika had to switch several jobs before finally meeting supportive colleagues at IBM, Gurgaon.
The ‘official’ identity Kritika, whose transition had already begun, was living a stressful dual life. Her body had …
