"I Want To Become An Inspiration For All": Hina Haneefa, Trans Woman Joins NCC

Hina Haneefa, a 22-year-old transwoman received a landmark verdict fro Kerala High Court earlier this week when the court gave her relief to join the National Cadet Corps.

The judge also proceeded to ask the centre to bring improvements in the application process of NCC so that more transgender persons can achieve what Haneefa did.

It all started when Hina Haneefa decided to apply for the NCC and found out that there are no criteria for the third gender mentioned in the forms. As Haneefa identifies as a woman, she applied as female and her form was not accepted.

This when Haneefa moved to High Court. She had earlier been part of the junior NCC as a man and problems only started surfacing when she applied in college. Currently, Haneefa is a first-year student of B.A (history) at Kerala University. She was born and raised in a Muslim family in the Malappuram district. According to reports, she started living away from her family in 2017 and had her sex reassignment surgery when she was 20 years old.

The High Court not only allowed her to apply under the female category but also asked the centre to allow entry of transgender persons in NCC within six months. Hence the centre is bound to make changes to the prescribed enrollment criteria under Section 6 of the NCC act, 1948. The Judge while defending its judgement to make Haneefa apply under the female category said, "Transgender person has a right to be recognised not only as a transgender but also a right to self-perceived self-identity." Read more about the judgement here.

Haneefa while talking about the procedure said that barring the legal troubles, she didn't have to face any discomfort from NCC or her college. She said that all of them were very supportive.

Haneefa in her petition had mentioned that being a cadet in NCC is about human dignity for her and the transgender persons who wish for that. This clearly fell under the 2019 Transgender Persons Act which guarantees them a life of dignity and with any discrimination.

Haneefa during an interview expressed her delight over the historical judgement and said, "I want to become an inspiration for all."

She added, "Not only for my community but also for those people who are sidelined or marginalised due to various reasons. I want to prove that they can lead a dignified life in this society. My name should be recorded in history."

Hina Haneefa also talked about her family and how they have severed all ties with her. After leaving her home in 2017, she started working as an office assistant at Gender Park under Kerala's social justice ministry in Thiruvananthapuram. This, according to her, helped her pay for her education. "The money I had earned from that job is utilised for my education. Besides, I am also getting a scholarship for doing my graduation," she said. She aspires to be an IPS officer in the future.

Hina Haneefa said, "If I fail to get a chance in civil service, I will do hard work to get a posting in top rank in the state police."