Mumbai: Twenty-nine-year-old Lalita Salve, a constable from Beed, has finally found her identity. After struggling for several years, Salve has finally undergone a genital re-assignment surgery and is on her way to becoming Lalit.
The first stage of the surgery was carried out on Friday at St George Hospital in Mumbai after she got a go-ahead from Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and the Superintendent of Police in Beed allowing her to continue to serve the police force even after the surgery.
Lalita fought for months to get the permission from the higher ups and even approached the Bombay High Court last year pleading permission to be treated as a male constable in the force after surgery. She was forced to approach the court when Maharashtra police had refused her medical leave for the surgery and has faced backlash from many in the police force.
Rajat Kapoor, senior plastic surgeon attached to JJ Hospital who did the surgery told CNN-News 18, “We have finished the first stage of surgery, and it was successful. In another six months, Salve will have to undergo second stage of surgery. Following this, we will do a facial hair transplant.”
“Lalita can go back to Beed in two weeks and come back to complete the second stage in six months. There will be multiple surgeries conducted in the second stage,” added Rajat.
Salve had earlier told CNN-News18 after she got all the requisite permissions, “I’m very happy that I have finally received all the go ahead to do the surgery. I can’t wait to get my identity, something I’ve been yearning for years.”
JJ Hospital, after court orders, had constituted a medical board comprising a gynaecologist, a radiologist, an urologist, a physician, a plastic surgeon, a general surgeon a psychiatrist, and a forensic expert, who concluded that Salve did not have a single female organ, and was fit to undergo re-assignment surgery.
Comments
0 comment