Bombay HC pulls up sex change seeker for pressure tactics

A day after Bidhan Barua, a 21-year-old student from Guwahati, threatened to commit suicide after the Bombay high court refused to hear his petition urging it to instruct his parents to allow him to undergo a sex-change operation, the court warned him that he cannot use pressure tactics.

Barua, who calls himself Swati, claims to be a woman trapped in a man’s body. He wants to marry a flight lieutenant in the Indian Air Force. His father, however, is against the idea of Barua — the youngest of his three children —undergoing a sex-change operation and has threatened to kill him and his boyfriend.

A division bench comprising justice SJ Vazifdar and justice AR Joshi on Thursday also chided his advocate Ejaz Naqvi for the letters written by Barua to the Chief Justice of India, chief justice of the Bombay high court and the National Human Rights Commission.

In his letter, Barua urged had the court to intervene and grant him a favourable order so that he could undergo the surgery. In the event of the failure to issue such a directive, the 21-year-old threatened to commit suicide.

On Thursday morning, the judges summoned Naqvi after receiving the letter. 

“Your client cannot indulge in such pressure tactics and threaten the court. As a lawyer you should understand the court’s difficulties too,” said justice Vazifdar. “We will hear the matter when it is kept for hearing [May 7].”

In his letter, Barua claimed that as his parents have blocked his bank accounts he does not have money for lawyer fees. To this the judges said that if required, the court would appoint an amicus curie (friend of the court) or an advocate from the legal aid panel for him.