The Supreme Court today issued a notice to the Center on the issue

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court today agreed to hear a judicial intervention petition on the issue of surgery for intersex persons at birth and sought the Center’s response on the issue. Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud issued a notice to the Center and sought help from Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati.

The petition alleges that children are undergoing intersex surgeries at birth to turn them into male or female without their consent. Counsel appearing for the petitioner submitted that such medical intervention is a punishable offense and should be curbed by law.

Tamil Nadu is the only state that bans such surgeries, the petitioners said.

Back in 2019, Tamil Nadu banned gender assignment surgeries for babies born with an unknown sex, following a Madras High Court order. The High Court had earlier said such surgeries should be banned unless life-threatening.

According to the United Nations, approximately 1.7% of babies are born with gender characteristics that do not meet the typical definitions of male and female.

The United Nations says repeated surgeries and treatments performed on intersex children to “fix” their gender and appearance are often irreversible and can lead to permanent infertility and lifelong pain, incontinence, loss of sexual sensation and mental anguish. It added that there is often no medical reason to perform these procedures, which can have serious negative consequences for children. The United Nations stresses that carrying out these acts without consent is a violation of human rights.

The United Nations is calling on governments to ban unnecessary medical surgeries and surgeries on intersex children.

The Tamil Nadu government, in its 2019 order, said it would set up a committee to ensure that “the exception for life-threatening conditions is not misused” in these surgeries.