Eunuch in jail, officials can't decide on gender

Original story here - PATIALA: Barely months after he began his four-year long stint in jail, transgender Sudhesh Kumar alias Baba has become an oddball for the authorities concerned. The officials, apparently, cannot decide on the sexual identity of the prisoner, who claims to be a male.

A series of medical examinations, which threw up mixed results, have only added to the prevailing confusion. While officials in Patiala claim Sudhesh is female, those in Ludhiana say he is a male.

Sudhesh was shifted to Ludhiana in April, a month after he was lodged in Patiala Central Jail following his conviction in an attempt to murder case in a Derabassi court. "When our doctors conducted his medical examination, they found him without a male organ," a Patiala jail official told TOI on Friday. "He was then shifted to Ludhiana Central Jail and lodged with women inmates there," he added.

However, when Sudhesh insisted on a re-examination and the officials gave in, tests established the absence of uterus and ovaries. The latest report, accessed by TOI, states that "since the prisoner does not have a uterus and ovaries, he should be deemed a male transgender".

The eunuch returned to Patiala jail three days back but the officials are yet to decide on his lodgings. If put up with male inmates, he would be exposed to sexual assaults. Admitting to the dilemma, the jail SP said, "He is at present undergoing treatment of tuberculosis (TB) in our jail hospital. We will keep him separate (from other inmates) till we confirm his sex." However, officials claim that it would have helped had there been separate jails for eunuchs.

Meanwhile, as the officials grapple with Sudhesh's gender crisis, Dr Singla of Patiala jail maintains that "he (Sudhesh) is a male inside female body".