Kerala HC.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala High Court has ordered that a transgender couple could be mentioned as 'parents' in the birth certificate of their child instead of mentioning as 'father' and 'mother'.
The verdict, considered as the first of such nature in the country, brings relief to transgender couple from Kerala -- Zahhad, 25, and Ziya, 24 -- who were blessed with a baby in February 2023.
The birth certificate issued by the Kozhikode city corporation had mentioned Zahhad who gave birth as mother and her partner Ziya as father even as the couple wished that both of them need to be mentioned as 'parents' as they were transgenders.
Advocate Padma Lakshmi, who is the first lawyer from the transgender community in Kerala, could effectively present the transgender couple's case before the Kerala HC. A bench of Justice Ziyad Rahman allowed the plea and issued directives to the Kozhikode corporation on Monday to issue birth certificate mentioning the two as 'parents'.
"Since I could understand the feelings of Ziya and Zahhad more than anyone else, I could convince the court that it was a matter of their fundamental rights," said Lakshmi.
The couple also expressed their gratitude to Lakshmi for effectively presenting their feelings before the court.
It was on February 8, 2023 that Zahhad delivered a child at the government medical college hospital in Kozhikode. Paval, who was born as a man, and Zahhad, who was born as a woman, had even started sex reassignment procedures when the desire to have a child came up
Though they initially planned of adopting a child, the legal hurdles made them explore the option of having a biological child.
Subsequently, Zahhad conceived the baby following treatment at Kozhikode medical college hospital. Zahhad was considered as the first trans-father to deliver a child in the country.