Mumbai:
Bidhan Barua, who wants to undergo a sex change operation, today threatened to commit suicide after the Bombay High Court refused to hear his petition that seeks to restrain his parents, who are reportedly attempting to stop the surgery. The 21-year-old student had alleged that his parents had threatened the doctors at the Saifee Hospital, who have now refused to operate upon him until they get a go-ahead from the court.
The matter was today mentioned by Bidhan's lawyer Ejaz Naqvi before Justices S F Vajifdar and A R Joshi who said "we are not going to hear it today". The judges then adjourned the petition to May 7.
Bidhan told reporters that he had written letters to Chief Justice of India, Chief Justice of Bombay High Court and National Human Rights Commission urging them to intervene by this evening and grant him a favourable order so that he could undergo the sex change surgery or else he will commit suicide. He had written in his application that he is female trapped in a male body and wants to marry a flight lieutenant in the Indian Air Force.
In the letters he wrote, "I was due to undergo sex change surgery for which I left my job but my parents have blocked my bank account. I have no money to pay for the operation fees. For the last two weeks, I am running from door to door seeking injustice but the court does not have time to hear me. I do not have any money for my food, lodging. So I am finally requesting the court to pass an immediate order against my family or grant me an order for an authorised suicide".
"I will kill myself if I do not get an order for my surgery by this evening. For my suicide, the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court will be responsible", he wrote.
Bidhan, who likes to call himself Swati, alleged that his parents had stalled the sex change surgery which was to be performed at Saifee hospital on April 17.
Bidhan's lawyer had told the High Court earlier that the parents of the petitioner had got his bank account frozen and were infringing upon his fundamental rights.
Bidhan says that he realised early in life that he was born in the wrong sex and preferred to dress like girls. This angered his parents who ill-treated him and beat him up, he alleged. The 21-year-old said it was in standard 7th that he learnt through the internet that medical science could provide a remedy to his problem through a sex change procedure and he decided to go for it. He did odd jobs after school hours to earn money for the operation which would cost him anywhere between Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh.
On March 2 this year, Bidhan underwent a psychiatric test in Guwahati to check whether he was fit enough to undergo such a procedure. As the result was positive, he ran away from home on March 31 and came to Mumbai where he stayed with his cousin. However, his father Supti Ranjan Barua traced him to Mumbai.
In Guwahati, Bidhan's father, who works as a cook, had said earlier that he is concerned about his son and wants him to be happy but cannot understand or accept his insistence on becoming a woman. "I feel ashamed that he wants to change his sex," said Supti Ranjan Barua to NDTV. "If he changes his gender, I will not be able to bear the humiliation," he pleaded.