Transgender rights activist hails Patna HC order staying Bihar govt's caste survey

Hearing a bunch of petitions, a division bench of Patna High Court Chief Justice K Vinod Chandran and Justice Madhuresh Prasad directed the state government to immediately stop the caste-based survey, and ensure that the data already collected are secured and not shared with anybody till final orders are passed.Talking to PTI Prasad said, Bihar governments decision to consider third gender a separate caste during the caste-survey exercise was a criminal act.

Transgender rights activist Reshma Prasad who was among those who had challenged the Bihar government's caste-survey exercise before the Patna High Court on Thursday hailed the HC's stay order and said it was tantamount to the community's ''voice being heard''. Hearing a bunch of petitions, a division bench of Patna High Court Chief Justice K Vinod Chandran and Justice Madhuresh Prasad directed the state government to immediately stop the caste-based survey, and ensure that the data already collected are secured and not shared with anybody till final orders are passed.

Talking to PTI Prasad said, ''Bihar government's decision to consider 'third gender' a separate caste during the caste-survey exercise was a 'criminal act'. We are thankful to the Patna HC that our voice was heard. Our lawyer raised the issue very effectively before the HC''. ''Now, the HC has directed the state government to immediately stop the exercise. We stick to our demand that the state government should withdraw the format used during the second phase of the exercise in which 'transgender' was declared as caste. We will raise this issue before the HC on the next date of hearing on July 3. We should be given reservation as people belonging to transgender community have been given in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh and some other states'', said Prasad. The high court has fixed July 3 as the next date for the hearing of the case. During the second phase of the survey, each caste had been given a numerical code for use. For instance, the sub-categories of Maithil, Kanyakubj and other Brahmins had been merged into a single social entity called Brahmin. The caste code of the Rajput was 169, Bhumihar (142), Kayastha (21) and for members of 'third gender' were 22. A total 215 codes had been allotted to different castes and 'third gender' had also been considered as caste with the allotment of a separate caste code.