Hearing a plea seeking judicial intervention on the issue of intersex surgery at birth, the Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from the Centre, the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) and others response on the matter.
A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra took note of the submissions of the counsel appearing for the petitioner, Madurai resident Gopi Shankar M, that such intersex persons, on assuming the majority, are also not recognised as voters.
The petition said that intersex children are being subjected to undergo unregulated sex change surgeries at birth, without their consent, to turn them into male or female.
The Tamil Nadu-based petitioner’s lawyer said such medical interventions for such sex change surgeries are punishable offences in other jurisdictions and that there should be a law to stop them.
“Issue notice,” the bench said and asked Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati to assist it in hearing the PIL.
The PIL has made Union ministries of Home Affairs, Social Justice and Empowerment, Health and Family Welfare, Law and Justice, and Women and Child Development parties to the plea. The Registrar General, the Census Commissioner of India and the CARA have also made parties to the plea.
In 2019, Tamil Nadu brought a law to bar such surgeries in the state following a Madras High Court order. The high court had said such surgeries should be prohibited except in life-threatening situations.
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