![handle is hein.journals/ijlmhs7 and id is 1 raw text is: International Journal of Law Management & Humanities
The Significance of Arun kumar V. Inspector
General of Registration's Case in the Indian Society
JAY GAJBHIYEI
ABSTRACT
The case of Arunkumar v. Inspector General of Registration is the first judgment in
India where the right to marry under Article 21 of the constitution has been affirmed for
transgender persons and holding that 'bride' under the Hindu Marriage Act would cover
transgender persons who identify as women. The Court affirmed Ms. Sreeja's self-
identification as a woman and recognized her right to self-identify her gender and be
included, along with other intersexes/transgender persons who identify as women, within
the definition of bride. It noted the violation of her fundamental rights by the State
authorities that refused to register her marriage. As such, the current litigation strategy
for gender diverse litigants is to continue perpetuating the myth that sex is fixed and
inevitable, and, therefore, rightly and morally justifiable when persons of one sex or the
other are discriminated against based on this unalterably fixed identity.
Keywords: Transgender, Bride, Equality, Hindu, NALSA, Discrimination, Self-
determination.
I. BACKGROUND OF THE CASE
Mr. Arunkumar married Ms. Sreeja in a temple in Tuticorin (Tamil Nadu). Arunkumar was
assigned male at birth whereas Sreeja was born with an intersex condition. While she was
assigned gender female at birth, at school she was registered as male and had a male name. In
her Aadhar card, her identity was displayed as transgender. Arguably, her socially perceived
gender was that of male and that is why even though her birth certificate records her gender
as female when she adopts a female name and marries a man the issue becomes one of
transgender marriage and not marriage between two persons of different sexes in the case.
The marriage was performed according to Hindu rites and customs and certified as validly
performed by the administrative officer of the village. However, the temple authorities
declined to vouch for the marriage. This fact raises some questions. Whose authorization: the
administrative officer's or the temple authorities, is necessary to claim that marriage is
performed as per Hindu rites and customs. This question is not raised in the case but given
1 Author is a student at National Law University, Odisha, India.
© 2020. International Journal of Law Management & Humanities [ISSN 2581-5369]
1
[Vol. 3 Iss 5; 01]](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/ijlmhs7&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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