JUNE 1
GUWAHATI, JUNE 1
GUWAHATI’S Bidhan Birua who had undergone a sex change operation in 2013 to become a women became a wife in March earlier this year after marrying Rinku Talukdar, an engineering student from Assam. Today, Bidhan goes by the name of Swati after the sex reassignment surgery.
Dr Kalpesh Gajiwala, the plastic surgery on Bidhan told Mumbai Mirror, “His father had contacted me about five months ago to fix a date for the surgery. It seems that the family has decided to support Bidhan. However, I asked them to get a thorough psychiatric evaluation done before coming down to Mumbai. His father did not contact me after that.” “I was set to check into Mumbai’s Saifee Hospital on April 17 that year for the procedure, but my parents threatened legal action. I was running out of money.
Mumbai is an expensive city and the hospital refused to do the surgery, so I had to come back to Guwahati. There was immense pressure from my parents. They told me that I was disrespecting the whole family.” Swati said.
He further added, “They were ashamed of me. They would often ill-treat me; beat me up and use foul language. I was made to do all the housework too. It was both physical and mental torture. In the interim, further legal wrangling was due. I had to fight the case in Gujarat High Court. As homosexuality was not permitted in the IAF, a case of cheating was filed against me. But later the court quashed the case.”
