Oorvasi Gandhi, a transwoman hailing from Usilampatti has lodged a complaint with National Council for Transgender Persons (NCTP) for being denied her share of property by her family.
A copy of the complaint accessed by The Commune stated that Oorvasi’s father and elder brother had refused her share of the property adding that they have even started cultivation in the land in question.
Oorvasi had approached the District Superintendent of Police of Madurai but only a namesake enquiry is said to have happened.
Following this, Oorvasi had submitted her complaint to the South Representative of the NCTP Mr. Gopi Shankar Madurai. It was confirmed by Gopi that the actual property documents mentions Oorvasi’s birth name thereby making her the rightful owner of the property.
He called for an urgent intervention citing Section 3 (g) of the The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 which says: “the denial or discontinuation of, or unfair treatment with regard to the right to reside, purchase, rent, or otherwise occupy any property;” is prohibited.
An empathetic Usilampatti Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) K. V. Rajkumar, had invoked the same provision and made the family members agree to resolve the dispute. This is one of the first such instance where a sub-divisional magistrate had invoked the provisions of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act to secure the rights of a Transgender person.