A man in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar was allegedly operated for sex change without his consent at a local hospital. However, the hospital has claimed that the man underwent the sex reassignment process on his own will.
The 20-year-old man claimed that one Omprakash used to molest him. On June 3, the man said Omprakash took him to the hospital, where he was sedated and deceptively made to undergo an operation. When he woke up the next morning, he found his genitals were cut off.
"When I woke up, Omprakash told me that I am a woman now and that he would take me to Lucknow to marry me. He threatened to kill my father if I resisted," the man said, adding that the doctors and staff at the hospital were colluding with Omprakash.
Based on a complaint by the man's father on June 16, the police arrested Omprakash. However, members of the Bharatiya Kisan Union staged a protest outside the hospital, alleging there was laxity in the police investigation.
According to farmer leader Shyam Pal, the doctors at the hospital were involved in illegal organ trade. "I believe there is a very big racket going on here where they remove vital organs of the body and sell them at a higher price," he said.
Pal also demanded the government to direct the hospital to pay Rs 2 crore compensation to the man and his family.
Ramashish Singh, Circle Officer of Khatauli Police Station in Muzaffarnagar, said, "There was a case here in which a person was operated for sex change. His family members alleged that he was misled by another person and the operation was done. A sit-in protest was held here to get a fair investigation done in this matter and whatever allegations have been made by them have been taken into consideration. Further investigation is underway."
HOSPITAL DENIES MAN'S CLAIM
However, hospital authorities denied the man's claim that he was deceptively operated on.
According to Chief Medical Superintendent Kirti Goswami, the man had been coming to the hospital regularly for two months to meet Dr Raza Farooqui, a plastic surgeon. Goswami said that the man identified as a woman and wanted to undergo sex reassignment surgery.
The Chief Medical Superintendent said that Dr Farooqui referred the man to two psychiatrists to assess his mental condition, which is a prerequisite before a sex-change operation as per law. The man was operated on only after the two psychiatrists deemed him mentally fit.
"The man came here to get admitted on June 4 and his operation was conducted on June 6. All these procedures are legal and were conducted under the supervision of Dr Farooqui," said Goswami.
Goswami also claimed that the authorities had a video of the man before his operation, in which he could be seen talking about undergoing an operation to change his gender.
