'No provision for transgender persons to join NCC': Commanding officer tells Kerala HC

The National Cadet Corps informed the Kerala High Court on Tuesday that transgender persons cannot join the NCC as there is no provision for the same. The existing policy allows only two divisions in the NCC for boys and girl cadets, it said.

The NCC told the HC that it is the prerogative of the Central government to constitute a new division for the transgender. The submission was made by Lieutenant Colonel Prem Chand Jha, Officer Commanding, Kerala Battalion NCC, Thiruvananthapuram, in response to a petition filed by Hina Haneefa, a transwoman and a student of Thiruvananthapuram University, who challenged the exclusion of transgender persons from the NCC program in her college.

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'Raising a new NCC division is a policy decision'

The Officer Commanding stated that only two divisions are created in the NCC for male and female genders and both the divisions are provided different facilities, training modules and other curriculums.

"Before constituting a new division for the third gender, the Centre had to conduct a major exercise in terms of reviewing the infrastructure facilities, modules, and facilities that are binding to such divisions. Any induction of a candidate not from male or female gender without due deliberations by the authorities would have far-reaching ramifications. The issue of raising a new division was a policy decision," he stated.

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Lt Jha also noted that the petitioner has chosen to be called transgender female which falls in the third gender category, but the enrolment in NCC as a cadet is open only to the male and female gender.

He added that that one of the primary aims of NCC was to groom the cadets for joining the Armed forces in the future, however, there is no existing provision for transgender (female/male) to join the Indian Armed Forces.

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(With inputs from agency)