Beed woman cop to undergo sex-change surgery today

A 29-year-old woman police constable from Beed district will undergo a sex change surgery at St George’s Hospital in south Mumbai today, a doctor treating her said on Thursday.

The constable Lalita Salve, who prefers to be called Lalit, had met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in March and sought the state government's permission to undergo the surgery. The government recently gave its nod for it. Salve received a letter from the state home department on Sunday allowing her to go on leave to undergo the surgery. After receiving the letter, she got herself admitted in the state-run St George’s Hospital on Tuesday.

“Tests were performed on Salve, including an X-ray scan, ECG examination and blood tests, to know her medical fitness for the surgery. She is confident and feeling much better,” Arjun Ujagare, her maternal uncle who travelled to Mumbai from Beed with her, said.

“Plastic surgeon Dr Rajat Kapur and his team will perform the surgery,” said a doctor at the hospital.

According to Dr Kapur, Salve’s operation should not be called a sex reassignment surgery as Salve is already biologically a male.

“Salve was born with small external genitalia that her parents mistook for a female’s and brought the child up accordingly. Tests done in the past few years have revealed Salve was genetically male with XY sex chromosome,” he said.

Dr Kapur has been treating Salve for over a year when he was posted in J J Hospital in Byculla. As he is now posted in St George's Hospital, Salve decided to get admitted there.

Salve had met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in March for permission to undergo the surgery. She had also sent an application to the state Director General of Police (DGP), requesting permission.

She had earlier approached the state police department to allow her leave for the operation. The department had then turned down her plea as the eligibility criteria for men and women constables are different, including height and weight.