Tuesday, August 18, 2009
The Supreme Court on Monday directed the federal and provincial governments to provide protection and free of cost health and education facilities to the eunuchs.
A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and comprising Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmad and Justice Ghulam Rabbani, heard a petition filed by Dr Aslam Khaki advocate against the social injustice committed to the transgender individuals.
The advocates general of all the four provinces and Deputy Attorney General Shah Khawar appeared before the court and presented reports of the respective social welfare departments. The Punjab social welfare department reported it had completed registration of eunuchs, stating there were 2,167 transgender individuals in the province.
The NWFP social welfare departments’ report stated a survey had been carried out in 17 districts of the province, and 324 eunuchs had been registered. The court directed other provinces to complete the registration process till next hearing of the case.
The court ordered the federal and provincial governments to appoint a focal person on district and Tehsil level to coordinate with the representatives of eunuchs to ensure their security and prevent registration of false cases against them.
The governments were also directed to provide free of cost education and health facilities, especially treatment of fatal diseases like HIV AIDS, Hepatitis and Tuberculosis etc. The governments were also asked to furnish reports on the implementation of the court’s orders to the Supreme Court registrar.
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