The Significance of Arun kumar V. Inspector General of Registration’s Case in the Indian Society

“The case of Arunkumar v. Inspector General of Registration is the first judgment in India where the right to marry under Article 21 of the constitution has been affirmed for transgender persons and holding that ‘bride’ under the Hindu Marriage Act would cover transgender persons who identify as women. The Court affirmed Ms. Sreeja’s self-identification as a woman and recognized her right to self-identify her gender and be included, along with other intersexes/transgender persons who identify as women, within the definition of “bride”. It noted the violation of her fundamental rights by the State authorities that refused to register her marriage. As such, the current litigation strategy for gender diverse litigants is to continue perpetuating the myth that sex is fixed and inevitable, and, therefore, rightly and morally justifiable when persons of one sex or the other are discriminated against based on this unalterably fixed identity.”