A trans woman based in Calcutta has allegedly been denied a passport for over a year despite holding a transgender certificate and identity card.

Anuprabha Das Mazumder was allegedly told by the regional passport office in Calcutta that the TG (transgender) card is not a valid document. It is in clear violation of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2019, she alleged.

Das Mazumder had moved Calcutta High Court in 2023. The case was pushed into urgent listing on June 12 after she was invited to a programme in London.

On June 12, Justice Amrita Sinha heard her petition and directed the passport authorities, who function under the Union ministry of external affairs, to file a report on the status of her application by June 18, the next date of hearing.

Das Mazumder’s petition can become a landmark case and an order favouring her can set a precedent for the transgender community, whose members routinely face difficulties in availing basic citizens’ services because of documents, or the lack of it.

“The petitioner is a trans woman. She has been issued a transgender identity card from the appropriate authority. On the basis of that card, she has been issued Aadhaar and PAN card. All she wanted was a passport. She went to the passport office. We showed them all the relevant documents along with the TG card. But the passport was not issued. Why? Because we were told that the appropriate authorities have not notified the passport authorities about the existence of validity of the transgender identity card. In short, they said that the transgender identity card cannot be treated as a valid document for issuing the passport,” the lawyer representing Das Mazumder told the court on June 12.

The counsel for the regional passport office first said the petitioner had not applied properly. But then, he retracted, saying “it appears she has applied”.

He sought time to take instructions from the authorities.

“The petitioner’s application for issuance of passport is pending consideration. The respondent authorities are directed to revert with a report with regard to the status of the petitioner’s application,” Justice Sinha said in open court, listing the matter on June 18.

Das Mazumder told The Telegraph: “The purpose of the TC card was to streamline citizens’ services for transgenders. What happened to me is contrary to that objective. It amounts to harassment. If you are not acknowledging my TG card, you are not acknowledging my existence”.

She had applied for a Tatkal passport.

In 2014, in what came to be known as the Nalsa judgment, the Supreme Court ruled that transgender persons had the right to self-identify themselves as male, female or third gender and that the constitutional rights to life, dignity and autonomy would include the right to one’s gender identity and sexual orientation.

Subsequently, in December 2019, the government brought in the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2019, for which the rules were notified in September 2020.

The Act has been hailed as a landmark legislation but ground-level implementation has been fraught with irregularities.

“The certificate of identity issued under sub-rule 1 shall be the basis to change the gender as well as the name and the photograph, if so necessitated, of the transgender person in all such official documents as provided in Annexure 1, in accordance with the gender specified in the said certificate of identity,” says the Act.

Aadhaar, PAN, driving licence and passport are among several documents mentioned under Annexure 1.

Das Mazumder’s husband, Bappaditya Mukherjee, is the founder of Prantakatha, an NGO that works with marginalised people, including members of the transgender community. Das Mazumder is also an integral part of the organisation.

Ashish Middha, regional passport officer, Calcutta, declined to comment. “It is a sub-judice matter,” Middha said on Monday.

The official website of the ministry of external affairs has a “document advisory” section where the list of documents needed for obtaining passports are mentioned.

Sources said, if the documents are adequate, no one can be denied a passport.

“The idea is to provide the passport services within the ambit of the law. There is no reason to deny anyone this right if all documents are in place,” said an official in the passport office, citing the general passport rules.