Yashini, first transgender woman to join TN police, takes charge in Salem

Prithika Yashini is among 21 sub-inspectors who got appointment orders from the Salem Police Commissioner

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Prithika Yashini, the first transgender woman to join the police force in Tamil Nadu, received her appointment order from the Salem Police Commissioner is all set to take charge.

Deccan Chronicle reports she was among the 21 sub-inspectors who got their appointment orders from the Salem Police Commissioner, Sumit Charan.

Earlier, in a landmark judgement, the Madras High Court had directed the Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board to include members from the transgender community under a "third category".

It took Yashini close to six years to revive her childhood dream of becoming a police officer, during which time she worked as a women's hostel warden, in a counselling company and at a private hospital. In February 2015, she applied for the post of a sub-inspector, but was rejected on the grounds that Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board did not have a third-gender category.

Yashini then moved a petition in the Madras High Court, which led to her recruitment as a police officer through an interim order. But even a Court order was not enough to convince the recruitment board, which kept rejecting her application citing various reasons, including one where it said that her name did not tally with original certificates. It took another round of litigation before she was allowed to participate in field trials. The Madras High Court finally asked TNUSRB to give Yashini the post of Sub-Inspector, calling her a “role model” for other transgender people.

Interview with Yashini: Inspiring story of how she became Tamil Nadu's first transgender police sub-inspector