Jane Kaushik and Dr Praachi Rathore are both 29. But that’s not the only thing the two have in common. Delhi-based Kaushik and Hyderabad resident Rathore identify as trans women, and have experienced discrimination and disappointments through their lives. While Rathore’s “hellish” journey has finally borne fruit with her recent appointment as the chief medical officer at Hyderabad’s state-run Osmania General Hospital,  Kaushik was forced to resign from her teaching job at a school in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district on December 3, after her identity was revealed. The institution, however, blamed it on her “incompetency at work”. 

The matter was taken up for investigation after the National Commission for Women (NCW) took suo motu cognisance of Kaushik’s situation and demanded the UP chief secretary Durga Shanker Mishra to form a team and probe the matter. The report is awaited.