Case Title: Anamika v. State of Kerala and Others.
The Kerala High Court ruled in the Writ Petition that transgender people must be allowed to compete in their preferred category in athletic events if there isn't a distinct category for them.
In the lack of a designated category, transgender people should be allowed to compete in their preferred category, according to Justice V. G. Arun, who noted that transgender people have equal rights to compete.
The Court stated -
"It is my considered opinion that a transgender person is having an equal right to participate in competitions. Here, in the absence of any category for participating transgender persons, the petitioner is seeking to participate in her identity as a woman. If the organisers have not made arrangements for participating transgenders, then the petitioner will have to be permitted to participate in her chosen category."
A transgender person who identifies as a woman and wants to compete in a district-level judo competition submitted the request; however, when she tried to submit her application, she was told that transgender people are not permitted to compete.
The petitioner's attorney, Advocate Dhanuja M.S., argued that the petitioner's self-perceived gender identity is a woman and that she has been on hormone therapy for nearly five years after having the surgery, which was upheld by the Apex Court in the case of National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India. As a result, the petitioner ought to be allowed to compete in the women's division of the tournament.
While acknowledging that all transgender people have an equal right to compete, the Court made the observation that the petitioner should be permitted to participate in her identity as a woman in the lack of any category for participating transgender people.
The Kerala Judo Association and the Kozhikode District Judo Association were therefore ordered by the court to accept the petitioner's plea.