Transgender activist becomes member of Lok Adalat panel

Nagpur: A transgender activist, who has become a member of the judicial panel at a National Lok Adalat conducted here, says the society should not discriminate against the LGBT community and rather support such people. Vidya Kamble (29), who has been working as a social activist for around 10 years, is the first transgender to be a panel member of the Lok Adalat in the state, district legal aid committee secretary Kunal Jadhav claimed.

The activist was on the panel of the Lok Adalat held in the Nagpur district court yesterday. The panel resolved several disputes, including a Rs 19 lakh claim settlement between an insurance company and a medical insurance policy-holder, Kamble told PTI.

Asked what prompted her to be a part of the Lok Adalat, she said it gave her a feeling of pride. “The (other) members of the panel were very supportive. The secretary of the district legal aid committee gave me the opportunity to be a part of the panel,” she said.

“For the last nine days, I was involved in verification of cases (that were listed for the Lok Adalat). We were able to settle a case where a girl got her medical insurance claim of Rs 19 lakh,” Kamble said. She said the society should not discriminate against the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community members and rather these people should be supported.

“If a child is born with a disability, he/she is not neglected or thrown out, then why transgenders are rejected?” she asked. When a transgender is ostracised by the family, the person can go astray and take a wrong path, she further said. On Kamble’s inclusion in the Lok Adalat panel, Jadhav said such people such be recognised by the society.

“Many of these people are well educated. They should be recognised by the society. People do not accept them easily or employ them,” he said. People have fixed notions about transgenders, he said, adding that a platform like the Lok Adalat panel is required to improve their status in the eyes of the ordinary people.

He said even disabled persons have been a part of the Lok Adalat panels in the past. Lauding Kamble’s work efficiency, Jadhav said she did very well while dealing with the cases that came before the Lok Adalat. The Lok Adalat panels comprise a sitting or a retired judge, a lawyer and a social activist.

The members of these alternative dispute redressal forums try to settle amicably the cases pending in courts, or disputes which are at a pre-litigation stage. The Lok Adalats have a statutory status under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987.