Daily Times

LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah on Wednesday dismissed a woman’s petition seeking permission to get gender of her 24-year-old daughter changed.

The chief justice remarked that the petitioner – Shama Begum – was not an affected party, as her daughter was grown up and could herself approach a court for redressal of her grievance.

The petitioner had submitted that her daughter was experiencing extremely painful bouts owing to her changing gynaecological features. She said that her daughter was admitted to a hospital where doctors conducted several medical examination tests.

She said that several ultrasound and examination tests had confirmed that her daughter was undergoing sexual transition and needed urgent care. She said when she requested doctors to change her daughter’s gender they refused to do so fearing legal action against them.

She submitted that sex reassignment surgery of her daughter was necessary, as doctors had confirmed that her daughter was losing her female reproductive features and need a sex-change surgery.

She requested the court to issue orders allowing her daughter to undergo sex change surgery. She had also sought directions to the Punjab health secretary to ensure smooth transition of her daughter’s sex.

Sex reassignment is a surgical procedure by which a transgender person’s physical appearance and function of their existing sexual characteristics are altered of their identified gender.