It was a grand victory for the LGBT community and K Prithika Yashini, a transgender person, after the Madras High Court on Thursday declared that she would be appointed as a Sub-Inspector in the Tamil Nadu police. 

The court also asked the Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board (TNUSRB) to create a separate category on the forms to employ transgender people.

The judge said, “We are sure that by the time the next recruitment process is carried out, the TNUSRB would have taken measures for including the third gender as a category,” the Times of India reported.

The Tamil Nadu police already have three transgender constables in their force and Yashini is the first transgender to be appointed to the rank of a Sub-Inspector. The bench said that she would be able to advance the cause of other transgender people.

Yashini was born as K Pradeep Kumar and was male till she completed her post graduate diploma in computer application from Bharthiar University.

After that, she left home and underwent a sex re-assignment operation and also got her required certificates.  

The TNUSRB had earlier rejected her application saying that her name did not match the name in the original certificates. She filed a petition in the court to get permission to write the exam on May 23, 2015.

Even though she has achieved her dream of becoming a Sub-Inspector, that there is a battle ahead, she feels. She told TOI, “There is a medical test, training, and finally the posting. I have to brace myself mentally and emotionally for the training and whatever harassment I may face. If I get posted in a remote part of Tamil Nadu, I know it will mean a greater struggle for acceptance. But I am ready to fight."