Karnataka Police to Recruit Transgender Candidates For the First Time

The Southern Indian state is all set to recruit members of the transgender community in the local police departments. As per a notification issued on 20th December, the state government has called for applications from transgender candidates for recruitment in the Karnataka State Police (KSP). The KSP department had amended the Karnataka Civil Service Rules (General Recruitment) Act, 1977, to accommodate one per cent reservation for members from this community.

According to the notification—published by the Additional Director General of Police (Recruitment)—four posts of special reserve sub-inspector for the Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) and one post in India Reserve Battalion (IRB) of the rank of special reserve sub-inspector, will be reserved for transgender persons; the two will jointly be enrolling 70 people for various posts, of which five will be transgender persons. In July 2021, the High Court of Karnataka ordered one per cent horizontal reservation for transgender people in all state-run organisations, based on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by social activist Nisha Gulur and Sangama, a city-based NGO and rights group.

As per the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Rules 2020, framed by the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, transgender candidates must obtain a certificate from the district magistrate to apply for the job; the last date for the application is 18th January 2022. In addition to the police department, three posts have been reserved for transgender persons in the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) for Scene of Crime Officer (SOCO). For this, the last date for the application is 15th January 2022.

In March 2021, the Chhattisgarh police recruited thirteen members of the transgender community as constables in four districts of the state. Up until then, only two transgender police personnel had been recruited in India—one in Tamil Nadu and another in Rajasthan. In 2014, the Supreme Court recognised the transgender community as a third gender, along with male and female. They ruled that transgender persons have equal privilege and deserve to practice their fundamental rights, as listed in the Indian Constitution.