25/02/2018
THE TRANS SHANAVI PONNUSAMY HAS SOUGHT MERCY KILLING FROM THE PRESIDENT OF INDIA !
The Trans woman Shanavi Ponnusamy is from the Southern India State of Tamil Nadu from the Tuticorin District and she has plenty of talents and ability like any normal human being. She is the first graduate in her family. She applied for cabin crew post with Air India in 2016 but as she is Trans it is refused and raise your for her justice
We are hearing that when Shanavi applied for a cabin crew post with Air India in 2016. She had been met with all the eligibility criteria under the ‘female’ category and the body measurements also said to have been ok along with BMI, height etc. though what to do the fate has made her application to be rejected and so far no proper explanation has been given to Shanavi but they told that they don’t have a policy to hire a transgender person. This explanation had been made the physically and mentally a great pain and a worry to Shanavi. She approached the Supreme Court of India also in this regard and the Apex Court also sought the reply from the Ministry of the Civil Aviation.
Now all doors are closed and felt as she was ousted being a trans woman in the society Shanavi sent a letter to the Hon’ble President of India Ramnath Kovind with narrating all incidents that was happened in her life and to give permission with seeking a permission mercy killing.Shanavi has come from a lower middle class family at Tiruchendur in Thoothukkudi district of Tamil Nadu which is the southern Indian State of Tamil Nadu. Assigned as male at birth, she realized she was a girl when she was in school, but kept it to herself so as to not add pressure on her struggling family. She kept all woriies, agony, in her mind and studied well. Living and studying a trans person along with the other normal students is a great thing in the Asian countries like India.
After much efforts and difficulty by the encouragement of her family and some well wishers and NGO like us Shanavi graduated as an Electronics and Communication Engineer[ECE] in 2010. Though she was graduated as an Electronic Engineer she struggled too much to find employment for three years until 2013. And finally she got a job with Sutherland Global Services, a company which Air India had outsourced their customer support to.Shanavi proved herself as an outstanding employee and worked for Sutherland at Velachery, in Chennai, Tamil Nadu [India] as a customer support executive for Air India (International) for over a year, and familiarized herself with all kind of carrier’s air operations.
She got an opportunity to undergo a gender affirmation surgery in April 2014, and registered her name and gender change in the Tamil Nadu Government official Gazette.In February 2016, Shanavi applied for a post of cabin crew in Air India. She logged on to the website, and seeing there were only ‘male’ and ‘female’ categories for the applicants, she applied in the latter.
The first time Shanavi was called for the interview by Air India but hearing from her that she was not given a good manner and respect since she is a trans woman.The very next day, Shanavi went to the Ministry of Civil Aviation in Delhi. She met with a senior officer, who seemed to support her case. “He even called Air India in front of me, and told them to consider my case,” she recalls. “But at the end of the day, he is not a decision maker.”Shanavi then went to the Air India office and requested a meeting with the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD). She had been writing to him since the first time she applied for the cabin crew post, explaining her situation, and that it was a matter of survival for her.
After came from the interview she was waiting for the result but unfortunately she did not receive any response from the Air India and then she went to the office directly and asked about its status and the Management said that will call her but they didn’t call her or send any response through mail.but unfortunately in September 2017 Shanavi got a response with an note that ‘ Air India has no policy in place to hire a trans woman for this post’ but hearing this response she was totally broken and then Shanavi decided to move the Supreme Court.
Shanavi moved the Supreme Court in 2017, alleging discrimination on the basis of gender, and violation of her rights under Article 32 of the Indian constitution. The Supreme Court sent a notice and sought a reply from the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Air India on November 6, 2017 and gave them a period of four weeks to give a proper reply in connection with her posting.But in the three months that have passed since the Supreme Court order, Shanavi has received no response. Frankly speaking she has no money to fight for the legal battle by spending a huge sum since she has hailed from a lower middle class family. As the date of the hearing is postponed time to time she got too much vex and the physical and the mental agony and decided not be burden to anyone so sent a letter to the president of India with seeking permission for a mercy killing.
She told in the School “We are taught as children of the Bharth Matha [Child of the Mother india ] Indians and this is our government. But right now, I feel like I am in a foreign country, where the government is making me plead for things I need for basic survival,” Shanavi.
She has written in the letter the Indian government’s (through Air India) unresponsiveness on the issue of her employment and survival has rendered her incapable of even paying for her advocate. “So here I am requesting you that as I am not able to raise a question against Air India and Ministry of Civil Aviation as there is no response from them already, kindly do 'euthanize' [me]. I am proud to die in my Indian government’s hands,” she says.She also points out that if the government itself is so biased, you cannot expect better from private companies. “Shouldn’t the government be setting an example for others rather than having the same prejudice against transgender persons?” she questions.
“I do not have family support and I do not have a family of my own. It is not about earning money to support them. My job is for me to live a life of dignity and self-respect. But even that seems too far out of my reach now,” NGOs like us given her psychological related counseling and waiting with hope that there will be a dawn in the life of our beloved trans Shanavi and let us all hope so too.
